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Senator Mike Lee, a Republican and chair of the U.S. Senate
Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel, is likely to also press
Google on allegations that it is opaque in pricing advertising
services, as its critics complain.
Lee is expected to express concern that Google may have broken
U.S. antitrust law, a source close to the panel said.
The tech giant made a series of purchases, including DoubleClick
and AdMob, to help make it the dominant player in online
advertising. Google maintains a tight grasp over each of the
many steps between an advertiser looking to place an ad and a
website looking to host it.
The panel will hear from Don Harrison, who took over as head of
Google's corporate development, which oversees advertising
partnerships with other companies, in 2012.
Harrison, who testifies at a time when Google has few friends in
Washington, will argue that the ad tech ecosystem is crowded and
competitive, with Amazon.com Inc and Facebook Inc among Google's
powerful rivals, and that ad tech fees have fallen.
Harrison is also expected to argue that advertising is critical
to supporting free websites, including Google search.
The hearing comes as the U.S. Justice Department is expected to
file a lawsuit against Google within weeks, according to sources
familiar with the matter.
Senator Amy Klobuchar, the top Democrat on the committee, has
expressed support for the Justice Department probe. Also on the
panel are two other lawmakers who have raised questions about
Google, Senators Josh Hawley, a Republican, and Richard
Blumenthal, a Democrat.
Google's critics say it uses search to tout its shopping,
mapping and other services rather than giving neutral responses.
Others allege it unfairly favors its services in Android.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Tom Brown)
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