Google and Facebook are the closest to being probed, according to The Wall Street Journal’s sources, who also estimated that between 12 and 20 AGs are involved. This follows Monday’s news that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) had divvied up the tech giants for potential antitrust investigations. There is no formal complaint yet, but the sources said discussions are likely to focus on companies’ use of data, dominance in industries like online advertising and anti-competitive concerns. Facebook and Google’s stocks don’t appear to have been impacted by the news; they were up 3.19 per cent and 2.15 per cent, respectively, in late afternoon trading. (Wall Street Journal)

Talking point: While federal government investigations still take more precedence—the Nasdaq entered correction territory on the news—this update shows the power that state AGs have in regulating Big Tech. For example, in June 2018, California passed the California Consumer Privacy Act. It gives the state’s residents the right to know how their data is being collected and shared; they can also deny firms the right to sell it. At the time, it was one of the U.S.’s most powerful consumer data protection laws; it’s still seen as a model for potential state and national law. States also got involved in the 1998 Microsoft antitrust case, where several state AGs teamed up with the DoJ to file the monopolization complaint. Tech giants have been proceeding with acquisition and software updates as usual—an unusual move, as companies tend to lay low when being watched by regulators.