internet search engines
Tech Giants Face New Rules in Europe, Backed by Huge Fines
European officials want new powers to oversee internal workings at large technology companies such as Facebook Inc., FB -0.56% backed by threats of multibillion-dollar fines, as they seek to expand their role as global tech enforcers. The European Union’s executive arm proposed two bills Tuesday—one focused on illegal content, the other on anticompetitive behavior—that would …
Is Google Down? Gmail, YouTube Suffer Outages
More than a dozen Google services, including Gmail and YouTube, were offline in swaths of the globe Monday morning, interrupting access for individuals and businesses. The Alphabet Inc. GOOG -0.24% -owned company’s services showed errors for users attempting to sign in, access their emails or files, according to social-media postings from users. On YouTube, the …
Justice Department Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Google
The Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit Tuesday alleging that Google engaged in anticompetitive conduct to preserve monopolies in search and search advertising that form the cornerstones of its vast conglomerate. The long-anticipated case, filed in a Washington, D.C., federal court, marks the most aggressive U.S. legal challenge to a company’s dominance in the tech …
‘Too Complex to Break Up’ Is the New ‘Too Big to Fail’
Days before, Facebook Inc. produced its own document contending that breaking it up would be a “nonstarter” for a number of reasons, including that the company’s constituent parts are already too complicated and interconnected for any of them—Instagram, WhatsApp, its ad business—to be spun off as individual companies or walled off as separate divisions. “After …
House Panel Says Big Tech Wields Monopoly Power
WASHINGTON—America’s biggest technology companies have leveraged their dominance to stamp out competition and stifle innovation, according to a Democratic-led House panel, which said Congress should consider forcing the tech giants to separate their dominant online platforms from other business lines. Republicans issued a separate response endorsing strong antitrust enforcement targeting the companies but didn’t endorse …
Big Technology Stocks Dominate ESG Funds
Funds that market themselves as sustainable investments aren’t necessarily focused on companies that fight climate change, develop wind turbines or promote diverse boards. Instead, many of them look a lot like a portfolio of big technology stocks. The five most commonly held S&P 500 stocks in actively managed sustainable equity funds last fall were Microsoft …
Google’s ‘Project Nightingale’ Triggers Federal Inquiry
The data on patients of St. Louis-based Ascension were until recently scattered across 40 data centers in more than a dozen states. Google and the Catholic nonprofit are moving that data into Google’s cloud-computing system—with potentially big changes on tap for doctors and patients. At issue for regulators and lawmakers who expressed concern is whether …
Alphabet earnings miss, driving down shares 2%
Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, reported a third-quarter earnings miss that sent its stock down 2% in after-hours trading on Monday. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company GOOGL, +1.95% GOOG, …
Google Draws House Antitrust Scrutiny of Internet Protocol
Congressional antitrust investigators are scrutinizing plans by Google to use a new internet protocol, concerned that it could give the company a competitive advantage by making it harder for others to access consumer data. In a letter this month, investigators for the House Judiciary Committee asked Google for information about its “decision regarding whether to …
States to Launch Google, Facebook Antitrust Probes
WASHINGTON—State attorneys general are formally launching separate antitrust probes into Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google unit starting next week, according to people familiar with the matter, putting added pressure on tech giants already under federal scrutiny. The Google probe is expected to be announced at a news conference outside the U.S. Supreme Court on …
