Texas attorney general opens antitrust inquiry into fairness of Google search results

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Texas opens inquiry into Google search results

WASHINGTON — Google says Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is investigating whether its Web search rankings are fair.

Google Inc. is facing increased scrutiny in Washington and Europe. Regulators and competitors fear that it has too much control over where people go online and how much advertisers pay to reach them.

Google says its goal is to dig up the best results for users, not cater to website operators. The company notes that because not every website can be on top, “it’s unsurprising that some less relevant, lower quality websites will be unhappy with their ranking.”

A spokesman for Abbott confirmed the inquiry but had no further comment.