Google under antitrust probe in the US

US regulators have launched a probe into Google's lucrative search and advertising business in a move that could become the biggest antitrust battle in the tech world and pose the most serious legal challenge the Internet giant has faced to date.

The search engine giant yesterday said that the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched a formal probe into its search and advertising businesses.

In a filing yesterday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the Mountain View, California-based company said that the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched a formal probe into its businesses to investigate whether or not it has abused its Web dominance.

"It's still unclear exactly what the FTC's concerns are, but we're clear about where we stand," Amit Singhal, a Google search scientist, said in a corporate blog post. "Since the beginning, we have been guided by the idea that if we focus on the user, all else will follow."

Google said it is cooperating with the FTC.

The US probe comes after the European watchdog last year launched an antitrust investigation following complaints filed by the UK price comparison site Foundem, ejustice.fr, a French legal search engine and a German search site called Ciao. (See: EC launches probe into Google's search monopoly in Europe)