Warren, Jayapal Call on Google to Cease Efforts to Strip Key Authorities from Top Biden Administration Justice Department Antitrust Regulator
“Google should focus on complying with antitrust law rather than attempting to rig the system with these unseemly tactics.”
Washington, D.C. - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) sent a letter to Google Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sundar Pichai calling on Google to cease their efforts to strip Jonathan Kanter, the newly appointed Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, of his authority to enforce antitrust matters involving the company.
The lawmakers criticized Google’s attempt to bully Mr. Kanter into recusal, citing federal ethics and conflict of-interest laws, writing, “Mr. Kanter is eminently qualified to lead the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, and it is unfair and inappropriate of your company to question his impartiality. If Google is serious about ending conflicts of interest in Washington, it can demonstrate its sincerity by supporting legislation, like the Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity Act, to strengthen federal ethics requirements. Otherwise, your efforts to sideline key federal regulators—like similar actions by Facebook and Amazon—simply serve as further evidence that you will go to all lengths to ward off necessary scrutiny of your immense market power.”
The letter comes after Google sent a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) arguing for Mr. Kanter’s recusal from all matters involving Google, claiming that his extensive experience opposing Google in past antitrust matters should, paradoxically, disqualify him from representing the federal government on such matters. But federal ethics laws clearly define the conflicts of interest that would require recusal: (1) the employee has a direct financial interest in a particular matter involving specific parties, (2) if a former employer or client he has provided services to within the previous two years is a party or represents a party in a particular matter, or (3) if “a reasonable person with knowledge of the relevant facts (would) question his impartiality.” None of these standards require Mr. Kanter’s recusal in matters related to Google.
Prior to Mr. Kanter’s appointment in November 2021, Google was already in the throes of a plethora of federal and state lawsuits regarding alleged anticompetitive and exclusionary practices, such as manipulating the online advertising market, rigging auctions for online advertisements, abusing its monopoly power to maintain its position in the search market, and misusing its control over the Android app store.
“Google should focus on complying with antitrust law rather than attempting to rig the system with these unseemly tactics,” the lawmakers wrote.
Google’s attempt to sideline federal regulators echoes similar attempts by Amazon and Facebook to evade accountability for their anti-competitive behavior. Last year, Amazon and Facebook filed petitions to the FTC urging newly appointed Chairwoman Lina Khan to recuse herself from multiple ongoing antitrust matters involving their companies, claiming she lacks objectivity due to her past criticisms of their business practices. Senator Warren and Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) along with Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), sent a letter to Amazon Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Andy Jassy and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg calling on them to cease their efforts to force Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan to recuse herself from federal antitrust matters involving their companies.
In December 2020, Senator Warren reintroduced the Anti-Corruption & Public Integrity Act to padlock the government-to-lobbying revolving door, strengthen federal ethics rules and enforcement, and restore the American public's faith in democracy, which has been at “historic lows” for over a decade.
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