General paxton from texas. Thank you all for being here. I never thought i would be standing in front of this many cameras at the u. S. Supreme court, but thank you for being here. I want to thank my fellow ags. We have 50 attorneys general from across the nation involved in this investigation that we are leading from texas. I cant tell you how much i appreciate their support for an really important issue. What we have all learned is that while many consumers bring the internet is free, we know from googles province that the internet is not free. This is a company that dominates all aspects of advertising on the internet and searching on the internet, as they dominate the buyer side, the seller side, the auction side, and even the video side with you two. With youtube. This is mastication is not a lawsuit, it is to determine the facts this investigation is not a lawsuit, it is to determine the facts. We are looking at advertising, but the facts will lead where they lead. As we speak, there will be 3. 8 million searches and a lot advertising dollars made in every minute that one of these people speaks. Google will be in control of most of those searches. Thank you for being here. I am going to let cholera seen, who going to let carl ray seen say a few words. , attorneyrl racine general of the District Of Columbia. Cam here to reiterate what has said, and that is that today, 50 attorney generals from different states and territories are launching an investigation into googles potential monopolistic behavior. What thevior and subject matter of our inquiry is his focusing immediately on two areas search, which obviously google dominates. Ago,ct, it was not long two and half years ago, that my colleague sean ran as from utah and i sent a letter to google inquiring about their power in search. It used to be a day when we would search google that we would be presented with links unrelated to the google business. Suggestpelling analyses that the overwhelming number of relate to google businesses and or advertisers that pay for that slot within those links. Really careerals about where the rubber meets the road, and that is for the residents of their estates and consumers. We also care about businesses, especially small businesses, that may be locked out as a result of what may be monopolistic power. This is an unusual setting right here. Who next to friends of mine i vehemently disagree with on issues like immigration, reproductive rights, gun rights, and other issues, certainly health care. But we are acting as one today in regards to launching what i know will be a fair and full investigation that will follow, as attorney general paxton said, the facts. Thank you very much. Thank you. I am kevin clarkson, attorney general of alaska. My state has a Significant Interest in this investigation because of the unique geographic location of alaska. Our unique location causes many of our businesses to be dependent on the internet for advertising in order to reach lower 48 international markets. The anticompetitive activity is the nature of what this coalition will be investigating, which has the potential of driving up the cost of business for alaska. I am pleased about the bipartisan nature of this investigation and the broadbased states that are involved in it. Thank you very much. Good afternoon. I am the attorney general of south dakota. Square miles with only 11 people per square mile. We like wideopen spaces. We like competition as well. We linked 152 million of activity occurs in my state along coming from google and the businesses it touches. We want to be a level playing field, so that is why i joined the Bipartisan Coalition of 50 state attorneys general. Right across the road we have the congress, which many times cant get along on different issues, but here we are together today, so i think that speaks volumes. Good afternoon. I am curtis hill, attorney general for indiana. I am pleased to join this Bipartisan Coalition of 50 attorneys general as we conduct a preliminary investigation into the issues you have heard spoken thus far. It is no doubt the internet is the superhighway of information. What we have found is that google, the giant Company Google , is the one that is erecting most if not all of the traffic on this highway. It is important that we determine for our state whether this traffic determination is being done in a fair manner. We want to make sure the internet has competition and we want to make sure we are preserving innovation, the innovation that many small Technical Companies provide on a regular basis. I am pleased we are getting this process started. It is a long way to go. We want to also emphasize that we want to be fair. It is a preliminary investigation. We will take a hard look and hope to work with everybody involved towards a full review of these situations. Good afternoon. I am Arkansas Attorney general leslie rutledge. I am proud to stand here today at the Supreme Court of the United States with my colleagues. We are republican, democrat, men, women, black, white, and hispanic, all standing together to protect the free market, to protect competition, but most importantly, to protect the American Consumer from this Online Search engine juggernaut. Today thisnced investigation into google. As a new mom, when my daughter is sick and i Search Online for advice or doctors, i want the best advice from the best notors, not the doctor and the clinic who can spend the most on advertising. It is freeans think to google something, but it comes at a cost, a cost that the freedom to choose the best products from the best companies. Googless 117 billion annually comes from Digital Advertising every second advertising. Every second of every day on every computer and smartphone screen, there is a Super Bowl Ad personalized to you, powered by google. Verb, Company Becomes a statesseem as though the are david taking on goliath. Tall am proud to stand with my fellow attorneys general from across the country as we protect the free market and protect the American Consumer. Thank you and god bless. Good afternoon. I am Utah Attorney general sean reyes. There is no question that google is the dominant player when it comes to internet search with nearly 90 share. There is nothing wrong with being dominant if it is done fairly. Thats what our investigation intends to uncover, whether google has played by the rules. There is a fine line sometimes between aggressive and illegal Business Practices. Usually the line is very clear. Our investigation will determine whether google has crossed that line. I want to reiterate something. This is an investigation. It is preliminary. Google is entitled to a presumption of innocence while we look at whether these actions are illegal or not. That said, there is a reason why there are so many of us standing here. I think that speaks to the pervasiveness, the seriousness, the continuity of the complaints and concerns that have been raised by the American People over time. Evidence that we have seen, concerns that we have heard. As general racing referenced, this is nothing new. In 2016, not only did we talk to google, we sent a letter to the ftc asking them to reopen an investigation into googles alleged manipulation of search practices. We were heartened when our e. U. Colleagues took action and are even more emboldened today standing here and with colleagues across the nation who are taking this with the seriousness it is due. This is not antitech. It is the opposite. It is for the benefit of the tech ecosystem, to level the playing field. As someone who spent my career representing tech companies, investing in, running tech companies, i believe Tech Innovation has the ability to raise quality of lessen human suffering, even saved lives. The question today is whether google has strayed from its founding principles do not do people in its relentless drive to be the market dominant player. That is what our investigation, bipartisan, jointly, will uncover. Moody,ame is ashley attorney general for florida. You heard 50 democrat and Republican Ags are banding together to begin this investigation of google. You do not hear that often. While democrats and republicans may be from different parties, we all have a common bond. That is we are charged with responsibility of protecting the citizens of our state. When there is no longer a free market or competition, this increases prices, even when something is marketed as free, and harms consumers. Is something really free if we are increasingly giving over our privacy information . It is something really free if online ad prices go up based on one companys control . Google monitors our online behavior and captures data of every one of us, as we navigate the internet. This investigation will initially focus on the capture of that information and whether google embedded itself in every level of the Online Market ad sales to monopolize this industry. We appreciate you being here today, to taking note of the fact that we have come together in such an important investigation. It is extremely important as we determine whether or not our data and what we are revealing is truly the price we are paying , as google decides that whether they control what we share, see, and pay. Thank you very much. I am eric schmidt from missouri. I want to thank my fellow ags who have come together to launch this investigation, an investigation aimed at getting out the truth, to determine whether googles Business Practices are unlawful. Google is one of the best business one of the Biggest Companies on the planet. Every day people access the internet through google. 90 of the revenue that google derives is from advertising. The advertising ecosystem is complex, but it is fair to say that google is a major player in every aspect of that supply chain. To put that into context, it is like if you were trying to buy a house and google owns not just that house, but a lot of houses on your neighborhood, city, state, and country, and they also were this dillards agent and the buyers agent, helping you negotiate a fair price. Surely there are questions. I support innovation, i support free markets, which is why this investigation is so important, that we ensure that even the biggest of Big Tech Companies are accountable and even the Biggest Companies are subject to the rule of law. Thank you. I am purvis later he, attorney i am herbert slattery, attorney general for tennessee. One other thing we are interested in his access to the market and the anticompetitive efforts. The Business Model is based on the accumulation of data. Our questions are, how do they protect that data . They can deny the access of the data to other parties. If they have acquired companies in their nascent, new form to snuff out competition. Another way to preserve that data is to take a position at a company and find out what their technology is and then rollout their own competing service. All of those areas we want to look at. Those are classic antitrust practices. We want to make sure there is competition for the consumer. That is our interest, the production of the sumer the consumer. We want to look into those three particular areas. Thank you. Good afternoon. I am the from louisiana. I want to thank my colleagues who have joined us today. Many of you questioned why we are here. We are here because there is an existential threat in our virtual marketplace. Let me explain this so you in the media understand. Lets go back before the invention of radio and television when the Single Source of content was print media. Newspapers were it, the king of information. What we have allowed one person or one company to own all of the printing ink, the printing presses, and the paper used the print paper . Newspapers . The answer is absolutely not because somewhere along the line if someone would have tried to monopolize that entire industry, our government would have disallowed it. They would have disallowed the mergers or broken them up. Digital advertising in our virtual marketplace is supposed to enjoy the same freemarket principles as other commodities. Supply andsed to be demand bays. It is the way the free market is supposed to work. What has happened is as the internet has expanded, places were created for the placement of ads. Googles dominance as a Search Engine allowed them to tell advertisers that jeff was looking for a particular type of 10 issue, a particular place to go hunting, or a vacation to a specific area. It eliminated the guessing game for advertisers. By going to google and purchasing advertising on their platform, advertisers are able to strategically target their audiences. Unfortunately, this also means that googles dominance allows them to pick winners and losers in this exchange. Continuing down this road will kill online publishing. Google will control who stays and who goes. How is that for the fulfillment of open places, debate, and contents . The internet was said to be revolutionary because it enhanced and expanded human contact, allowing conversations to take place. It enhanced the spread of ideas and the freedom to publish that content. If we dont act now, that dream will die. Thats what this investigation is about. I am doug peterson, Nebraska Attorney general. Come50 attorneys general together, 50 attorneys general send a strong message to google. I am not going to quote joe biden, but i am going to tell you its a big deal. This is significant as we go forward. We have got a lot of work to do. To cooperating with the u. S. Department of cooperating also with International Agencies that are looking at this issue. It really is significant, the fact that we have the u. K. , france, australia, the European Commission looking at this. All indicate this is a significant issue. I look forward to working with my partners and i hope we can understand that our mission is to serve the citizens of this state. With that, i turn it over to rick rylander. The ags are happy to take some questions. General paxton and general ray questions. Ake i could not be more proud of the women and men behind me that have signed on. They are amazing people. I want to thank them for their comments today. As far as questions, this is the beginning of the investigation, so we dont know all the answers and there may be some things we cant answer. Karl and i are happy to answer questions and if you have a question for a specific ag, let us know. I understand it is early days. Willing to say that if the conclusion finds monopolistic tendencies, can you discuss what remedies might be . Would google be forced to sell off [indiscernible] we are literally just starting the investigation. This is the kickoff. The demand for information, we just sent it off. It is difficult to answer this question with as little as we know. It right, and has it is certainly a fair question. About you have got to find liability before we get to any remedies. The remedies available for them to antitrust action are there for folks to see. There is behavioral modification, the kind you talked about. Offink we are better leaving remedies unless and until we get to a remedies date. You began by saying advertising. Listening to your peers, i heard things like smartphones, data privacy. Is this an antitrust review of [indiscernible] it is not fair to say that yet. Our search for information is all related to advertising. Everything we requested so far is related to advertising. If there are other facts that demonstrate we need to go another direction, we will talk about it and we are open to doing that. Dave shepherdson from reuters. Does that mean you have already issued subpoenas to google . Thats correct. And the 49 states District Of Columbia . 48 states, the District Of Columbia, puerto rico, and there are two states missing. You might not be surprised. California, where google is located, and alabama. By the way, they can still change their minds. Even if it is too soon to stay a remedy, what is the marketplace like . We will go with both of us. Market, you shouldnt punish somebody for having a unique technology. But when you have companies that may be preventing another entrance into the market with unfair practices and dominating a market that ultimately hurts consumers, because even though there may be is not a direct cost to switching on the internet, if advertising costs are higher, who ends up paying that . Advertisers pay yet and it is past to the consumers, so consumers are harmed. That is our focus. The only thing i would emphasize again is the power of the Search Engine itself. Google itself in its initial first years talked about it being the best Search Engine to find what it is you are looking for and let you loose on the internet. We know that over time that model has changed to where the search result invariably is related goods,le services, and those who pay google. It is a different model than the model with which they began and it merits our scrutiny, as it has merited the scrutiny of other sovereigns. I wonder if you feel there has been sufficient antitrust enforcement by federal authorities to date, and i wonder if attorney general reyes can address this question. We have talked to the department of justice. They are looking at these issues, so i will leave those to the federal government. This is a state action. Whether they get involved or dont, that is up to them. Will simply comment and say we are very encouraged right now working with the administration, the department of justice. The ftc is also starting to go in the right direction. Request for the ftc to open that investigation and i will only comment on that. Data client to reopen the investigation at the time that general racine and i asked them to. The eu then issued fines and sanctions based on those same complaints and concerns. I will leave it at that. This has international overtones. A professor of economics from italy, who is here, she told me this has great interest overseas overseas as well. [inaudible] let me make it really clear here. Arestate attorney generals an independent bunch and they can be quite tenacious. I am very confident that this Bipartisan Group is going to be led by the facts and not be swayed by any conclusion that may fall short, if you will, if it is inconsistent with our facts. We are going to do what we think is right based on our investigation. [inaudible] do you have a message for lawmakers when they look at this stuff . Is this action a message to congress . I would not say it is. It is an independent action by the states. We are not reacting to congress, not trying to lead congress. We are trying to do what is right for our consumers. This is not related to congress or the federal government. This is our independent action. [inaudible] on friday, the new York State Attorney general announced that she had organized a group of about 11 attorney generals, also bipartisan, to review facebook and its conduct under the antitrust laws and norms. Whether this is a coordinated expansion i think remains to be seen. The fact of the matter is that each and every one of our consumers, our citizens and the residents of our states, either have or your and you have access of the internet, and therefore it is a proper place for state attorney generals to ensure that the landscape is fair and not unfairly manipulated in one companys direction. Last question right here. Knowe you able to let us what you are doing in a coordinated fashion and what you plan by doing statebystate as individual attorneys general . Coordinated fashion as it relates to the states . As it relates to the coalition coming together. We have a Leadership Team that we communicate with every week. And then we will have, as we learn more information, we will end up having calls and allow states to participate as much as they want to. It will be a very open process by the state. It is a little different than an individual state launching a lawsuit. In that instance, other states are free to join or add support if they think it impacts their consumers. This is an investigation. An investigation, i am sure, with the talent these offices represent, will be thorough and comprehensive. We are leading and out of our office, but we are open with our Leadership Team to using talent from literally every office in this country. Thank you all for being here. Obviously a very important investigation and you will be hearing more about this as the days come. As these attorneys general leaves, i am going to stick around. We are happy to answer questions. All of these states participating are also happy to take questions and press releases will be forthcoming. Announcer today joe biden wife of former President Joe Biden is a New Hampshire to help open field office for the 2020 biting campaign. Watched the event and jill bidens remarks tonight at 8 00 p. M. On cspan. Senator Elizabeth Warren is in new york city monday to speak to voters in Washington Square park. Watch live at seven clock p. M. Eastern on cspan. Live at 9 00 p. M. President trump holds a rally at rio rancho, mexico outside of our cookie. Outside of albuquerque. Announcer campaign 2020 watch our live coverage of the president ial candidates on the campaign trail. And make up your own mind. Cspans campaign 2020. Your unfiltered view of politics. Announcer sunday at 9 00 eastern on afterwards. In his latest book, sentinel inc. , journalist ben west top reports on how labs in china manufactured the drug. Hes interviewed by New Hampshire democratic congresswoman ann mclane kuster. Founding cochair of the Bipartisan Opioid Task force. The old days if you are a scientist at university you published your paper and it went ,nto some University Library pretty obscure, hard to find. In the internet age, all of these papers were published online. And publicly available. Everywhere around the world. Exactly its of these rogue chemists began looking for files specifically for these papers to go through them and appropriate the chemical formulas to learn how to make these new drugs. Announcer antenna clock Eastern Oregon democratic senator jeff merkley provides a firsthand account of conditions of migrant families at the u. S. Southern border in his book, america is better than this. Advocates had said hundreds of boys who were being separated from parents or being aware of warehouse in a walmart. So i want to but about it. I went to find out about it. They decided they do not want me to see what was going on. They called the police. And the video went to rock viral and sadly all of america was hearing about cages and secret warehousing of migrant children. Announcer watch book tv, every weekend on cspan2. President trump presents medals of valor heroic commendations President Trump presented the medal of valor to Six Police Officers from dayton, ohio during a ceremony at the white house. The president also honored five citizens from el paso, texas who acted to save lives during a mass shooting at a walmart. Ladies and gentlemen, the pi