State AGs meeting at the Ministry of Justice on large technology companies



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The meeting between the attorneys general of nine states and US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, announced earlier this month, aimed to focus on social media platforms that hinder free trade ideas on their platforms. has toured conservative circles and was singled out on Twitter by President Donald Trump.

But on Tuesday, Washington meeting officials said the one-hour conversation was more focused on developing an infrastructure to understand how the Silicon Valley giants such as Facebook and Google were dealing with the huge amounts of data.

"Ninety-nine per cent of these cases involved what our Attorneys General were unanimous for (and) under our authority, these were antitrust and privacy issues," said Jim Hood. , Attorney General of Mississippi. "One percent of the conversation, the bias was discussed."

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein – who will face Trump later this week after the New York Times and others reported that he secretly suggested the president's registration and discussed the hiring of cabinet members to remove Trump – was present at the meeting, such as Deputy Attorney General Makan Delrahim, who heads the Antitrust Division of the Ministry of Justice, said the department. Rosenstein categorically denied the reports.

In a statement issued after the meeting, the Justice Department said the group, composed of senior officials from five other general offices, had discussed ways to effectively protect consumers using digital platforms online. and "consumer protection", which includes the issue of potential bias, said a spokesman.

Participants said the technology business division, an idea promoted by Steve Bannon, a former Trump senior advisor, was not launched at the meeting. Instead, officials discussed how antitrust laws could be enforced to regulate companies and compared them with notable cases from the past, including Standard Oil and IBM.

Although officials at the Justice Department are worried about the potential bias of companies, one official told CNN earlier this month that no federal investigation has been opened and that participants in Tuesday's meeting will likely include both state and federal involvement.

"State AGs have been tackling these issues for years," said Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes, a Republican. "Having a federal perspective was welcome, and we agreed that at the federal and state levels, we are both seeking strong protection for consumers and markets through responsible regulation and disciplined enforcement."

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