Tech companies may have found their most formidable opponents yet

Tech companies may have found their most formidable opponents: state attorneys general. In the past week, nine attorneys general have joined to examine whether Facebook has engaged in anti-competitive practices, such as stifling competitors or increasing the price of advertising. And 50 announced an investigation into potential monopolistic behavior by Google, which will likely include scrutiny of its search and advertising businesses. When state attorneys general band together, they are an imposing force. By pooling their resources and persevering, even as some in their ranks are replaced by others, they can build and maintain the pressure to get results against the most powerful companies. In the years ahead, it is likely that state investigators will turn up new evidence, find new witnesses, develop new legal support, propose new arguments, devise new claims, fashion new remedies and shape new strategies that affect the timing and direction of the federal and international investigations. Instead of focused discussions with a single party — be it the Justice Department or the Federal Trade Commission — to persuade or dissuade them on any point, the companies will have to contend with multiple parties. Any decision by federal officials (even the president) to stand down or soften their approach can no longer be counted on to dictate the actual result.

[Richard Cordray served as Ohio’s attorney general from 2009 to 2011 and was the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from 2012 to 2017.]