A group of states may launch investigations into big tech companies like Facebook and Google possibly next month, report says

Associated Press/Francois Mori

Representatives from as many as a dozen states met with DoJ officials to discuss a multi-state effort to investigate big tech companies like Facebook and Google.
The states may announce their own, but coordinated, investigations as early as next month, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Calls for investigations into big tech is one area that both US political parties agree on.

States including North Carolina, Mississippi, Texas and others have met with top Justice Department officials in Washington last month to discuss a multi-state effort to investigate big tech companies for anti-trust violations, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing unnamed sources.

The multi-state effort may be announced as soon as next month, the Journal reports.

The states involved are run by Attorney’s General who are members of both political parties, Democrats and Republicans. Their investigations into companies like Alphabet’s Google and Facebook would likely be done in coordination with investigations by the U.S. Justice Department.

Representatives from about a dozen states attended the meetings. Enlisting the help of the states in a bipartisan probe could help GOP officials defend against accusations that federal investigations into tech companies are politically motivated.

Last month, The Department of Justice said it had launched a broad probe into top "online platforms" for search, social media, and e-commerce. It didn’t name, names but the wording left no doubt that the subjects included Alphabet, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple.

Plus, the Federal Trade Commission has been investigating, monitoring and fining Facebook.

This story is developing.

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