Google Grilled on Ad Business Dominance by US Senate Panel

Alphabet's Google faced a bipartisan buzzsaw of tough questions about its ad business in a hearing on Tuesday, with a particular focus on whether it misused its dominance in online advertising to drive profits.

Senator Mike Lee, a Republican and chair of the US Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel, pressed Google's Don Harrison, who testified remotely, on the company's dominance of the interlocking businesses which connect advertisers with newspapers, websites and other firms looking to host them.

"As that business has grown, so too have complaints that Google - which both operates the ad selling and buying platforms, and sells its own inventory through those platforms -has conflicts of interest and has manipulated or rigged online ad technologies and auctions to favor its own interest," Lee said.