DOJ To File Antitrust Charges Against Google Soon: NYT

According to a report from the New York Times, the Justice Department plans to bring an antitrust case against Google as soon as this month, after Attorney General William P. Barr overruled career lawyers who said they needed more time to build a strong case. 

According to three of the people, DOJ officials told lawyers involved in the antitrust inquiry into Google and YouTube, to wrap up their work by the end of September.

Most of the 40-odd lawyers who had been working on the investigation opposed the deadline, reported the NYT. Some said they would not sign the complaint, and several of them left the case this summer.

The career lawyers also expressed concerns that Mr. Barr wanted to announce the case in September to take credit for action against a powerful tech company under the Trump administration.

According to the NYT Mr. Barr felt that the department had moved too slowly and that the deadline was not unreasonable, according to a senior Justice Department official.

When Mr. Barr imposed a deadline on the investigation, some lawyers feared that the move was in keeping with his willingness to override the recommendations of career lawyers in cases that are of keen interest to President Trump, who has accused Google of bias against him.

The Google case could also give Mr. Trump and Mr. Barr an election-season achievement on an issue that both Democrats and Republicans see as a major problem: the influence of the biggest tech companies over consumers and the possibility that their business practices have stifled new competitors and hobbled legacy industries like telecom and media.