(The Center Square) – A stern warning has been issued to one tech company regarding the internet, Alabama Republican Attorney General Steve Marshall said.
The state’s top law enforcement official has notified Google, telling the tech giant to not block or remove crisis pregnancy centers in the state from online searches for abortion services. Marshall said such action by the company could open Google to investigations into anti-trust laws and religious discrimination.
“Google accounts for more than 90% of all internet searches in the United States,” Marshall said in a release. “It also holds a dominant position in the market for online advertising. This dominant market position comes with a tremendous responsibility to Google’s users and to the American public. Google once recognized its outsized public duty in its corporate motto, ‘Don’t be evil,’ and its commitment to ‘provide … users with unbiased access to information.’”
Marshall said “several national politicians,” unfortunately, are seeking to use Google’s market power “by pressuring the company to discriminate” against pro-life crisis pregnancy centers in search results, online advertising, and other products, such as Google Maps.
“If Google fails to resist political pressure from those on the left and bow to their demands to censor or block crisis pregnancy centers, then we will act swiftly to protect American consumers,” Marshall said in the release.
In a letter to Google, Marshall and the attorney generals gave a very clear warning.
The letter, in part, reads, “If you comply with this inappropriate demand to bias your search results against crisis pregnancy centers, our offices will (1) conduct thorough investigations to determine whether this suppression violates the antitrust laws of the United States and our States; (2) investigate whether Google’s conduct amounts to an unlawful act of religious discrimination under state law; and (3) consider whether additional legislation – such as nondiscrimination rules under common carriage statutes – is necessary to protect consumers and markets.”
According to the release, crisis pregnancy centers are charities that are private and show compassion and practical support to women. Those centers, in 2019, provided services to more than 1.8 million people and $266 million in services for little or no cost to women, including ultrasounds, STD testing, pregnancy tests, parenting and parental education classes.
Marshall joined other Republican attorneys general from Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia in penning the letter.
