article_snippet.sent: There have even been allegations that Google's up-close-and-personal relationship with the West Wing earned the West Wing a reprieve from what would have been an earth-shaking Federal Trade Commission antitrust lawsuit.
article_snippet.sent: Google has insisted Google never received special treatment in that case, punctuating Google denials with an animated GIF of a laughing baby as a jab at the news outlet that leveled the charge.
article_snippet.sent: Google needed that muscle in 2011, after the FTC found Google allegedly manipulated search results in ways that favored Google own for-profit products.
article_snippet.sent: Amazon and eBay were among the companies who complained that Google was engaging in practices that violated antitrust laws.
article_snippet.sent: The Wall Street Journal reviewed emails showing that Google co-founder Larry Page met directly with the FTC officials in late 2012 to discuss a settlement.
article_snippet.sent: Google agreed to change Google business practices but dodged a potential 10-figure fine – and saved the cost of litigating a years-long case that could have resulted in breaking up Google into smaller, more market-competitive units.
article_snippet.sent: Both Google and the FTC said at the time that there was no undue influence.
article_snippet.sent: Google pilloried the Journal, which first suggested a link between Google's access and the investigation's outcome, saying the meetings Google executives held with administration officials involved discussions about 'everything but' the antitrust investigation.
article_snippet.sent: The written defense Google published took specific aim at Journal publisher Rupert Murdoch, and included an animated GIF of a laughing baby in a high chair.
article_snippet.sent: But a Google spokesperson confirmed Thursday on background that company executives has talked with the FTC about unspecified antitrust concerns in the past.
article_snippet.sent: a Google spokesperson declined to be quoted or named.
article_snippet.sent: Google was accused publicly of favoring newly minted President Obama's 2012 re-election campaign in a more visible way.
article_snippet.sent: Googleclaimed at the time that Google was the result of a computer algorithm, not human intervention.
highlights_snippet.sent: Google told Daily Mail Online that Google has spoken with the Federal Trade Commission about antitrust concerns; Google was investigated in 2011 but later let off the hook .
  