Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley, who also is running for Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill's seat in 2018, told reporters that he issued an "investigative subpoena" to the tech giant to gather information. Asked whether his Senate bid influenced his decision to investigate, he said the goal is to "protect the people of Missouri."
Hawley's office is checking into what Google does with the user information it collects and allegations that it inappropriately scrapes information from competitors' websites. It's also looking into allegations that the company manipulates search results to favor its own websites over competitors', which has been the subject of recent scrutiny in Europe.
