Paul Sakuma / AP Photo
The feds want some information in an anti-trust investigation, and they won’t be using the world’s leading search engine to find it. Instead, they’ll use a more serious tool, issuing Google a subpoena, the first step in a major investigation into whether the company unfairly took advantage of its massive market share. The Federal Trade Commission is expected to issue subpoenas to other companies about their dealings with Google later. While the company has been the subject of FTC investigations related to its acquisitions of other companies, this marks the first major look into its core search-advertising business. The government wants to know if Google unfairly directed users to its own massive empire of services via its search business, systematically disadvantaging competitors.