The former CEO and current chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt, is set for a September 21st testimony in a Senate antitrust subcommittee hearing. Schmidt had previously declined to appear, but the threat of a subpoena changed his mind.
The hearing will look at Google’s widespread reach, which includes products in a huge array of niches from search to location, and attempt to determine whether the company has used its dominance in the search market to hinder competitors while listing its own products higher.
In short, the hearing seems to be interested in finding out whether Google services are getting bumped up a list when they might, algorithmically, not make it up so high. It doesn’t seem like Google would need the help which, as the biggest Internet company in history, gets an absolute torrent of attention for every new release.
The Federal Trade Commission is also looking into Google, though there’s been no indication of charges yet.
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