Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), sent a letter last week urging the Inspector General of the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the FTC over “nonpublic” information published in The New York Times, Politico and Bloomberg about the agency’s then-ongoing investigations of Google, Inc., Mashable reports. The reports of the FTC’s work were published in the aforementioned media outlets prior to a Jan. 3, settlement the FTC reached with Google, in which no search bias nor antitrust violations were found. As Issa’s letter states:
“Throughout the process, nonpublic information about developments in the investigation has been inappropriately shared with the media… It is believed that the Commission [FTC] may be contributing to, or is the source of, this information. This is of concern because such leaks are prohibited by law and counterproductive to the investigative process.”
An FTC spokesperson confirmed to TPM that the agency had received Issa’s letter but declined further comment at this time.
