Mike Lee, Google, and a Curious Antitrust Flip-Flop
By: Adam Candeub, RealClearPolitics, August 29, 2019
On his Aug. 20 Fox News show, Tucker Carlson detailed how Senate antitrust subcommittee Chairman Mike Lee transformed from one of Google’s harshest critics into one of its most loyal defenders faster than you can say “Monopoly!” From 2011 to 2015, Lee pressed the Federal Trade Commission to pursue antitrust violations against Google for its Internet search dominance, grilled its CEO, Eric Schmidt, for the company’s abuses, and supported the European Union’s investigation into the search-engine giant. After the FTC slapped Google on the wrist, he said he would investigate the Obama White House’s improper interference with the investigation.
Click here to read CfA’s report on Google and Mike Lee.
Now, Lee has done a complete 180. As a possible explanation for the flip-flop, Carlson pointed to investments in Utah by Google and Facebook along with Google’s fundraising for Lee. The two-term senator declined an invitation to discuss the issue on the show, but responded with a press release claiming to refute “Left-Wing Attacks on Mike Lee.” Carlson’s segment relied heavily on a report by the Google Transparency Project, an initiative of the […] watchdog group Campaign for Accountability.