The DOJ’s top antitrust official, Jonathan Kanter, has been barred from working on monopoly investigations of Alphabet’s Google as the department wrestles with whether he must recuse himself because of his previous work for the search giant’s rivals, according to people familiar with the matter.
Jonathan Kanter, a longtime advocate for antitrust enforcement against Google, was brought in by the Biden administration to tackle difficult antitrust investigations into tech giants like Google and Apple Inc. that began under former President Donald Trump.
Related: Google Seeks Recusal From Kantner Over Yelp & Microsoft Cases
In November, Google urged the Justice Division to overview whether or not Kanter ought to be recused from all actions involving the corporate due to his previous work representing its critics.
No resolution has been made within the almost six months since Kanter began the job on Nov. 16, whereas the division continues to waver over whether or not his involvement represents a battle of curiosity, one of many individuals mentioned.
The division sued Google in October 2020 for allegedly abusing its dominance of the web search market in probably the most important antitrust case towards an American firm in 20 years. It’s additionally making ready a second monopoly lawsuit over the corporate’s digital promoting enterprise, Bloomberg has reported.
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