Alphabet Inc.’s Google requested a federal court grant them permission to interview the U.S Department of Justice’s top antitrust official under oath. Google alleges that this official, Jonathan Kanter, carries a ‘deep-seated bias’ that spurred on the federal government to sue Google over antitrust violations.
Prior to his role as assistant attorney general for antitrust in November 2021, Kanter represented numerous of Google’s competitors, such as Magnite Inc., OpenX Ltd., Roku Inc., News Corp., and the News Media Alliance. According to Google, these companies collectively paid Kanter millions of dollars to lobby for antitrust cases against Google.
Google claims that Kanter’s alleged bias has influenced the entire proceedings against them in an unfair way. According to a court document released by Google, they believe Kanter’s predisposition to rule against Google undermines the pursuit of justice.
Since Google has hired Kanter’s former law firm, Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP, to represent them in April, Kanter has now recused himself from the case.
The filing made by Google is seen as being part of a growing effort by some companies to question the ethics of the Biden administration’s top antitrust officials, such as Kanter and FTC Chair Lina Khan. Both Meta Platforms Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. have previously, albeit unsuccessfully, sought to recuse Khan from participating in antitrust cases involving them over similar ethical concerns.
Google was sued by the Justice Department and a group of state attorneys general in January for allegedly monopolizing the online advertising technology market. In addition, another antitrust suit was filed against Google in 2020 over monopolization of online searches. The latter case is scheduled to be taken to trial next month.
Earlier this month, the Justice Department requested US District Judge Leonie Brinkema to stop Google from asserting that the antitrust lawsuit is a result of ‘improper selective enforcement’ of the law. Google was seeking unjustifiable discovery related to Kanter in an Aug. 18 filing, despite the fact that Kanter has already recused himself from the affair.
Before joining Biden’s Justice Department, Kanter focused his career on the convergence of antitrust issues and digital platforms. He represented a number of critics of Google and Apple Inc., who called for stricter enforcement of the antitrust laws. For his first year on the Google case, Kanter was restricted from involvement. After a one-year cooling off period expired in November 2022, he was able to participate, according to the agency.
For more details, please refer to the original article on Bloomberg Law here.