Welcome to the debt policy podcast. I'm Ashken Kazarian. On today's show, we're going to talk about antitrust and the latest news in the world of antitrust, which are the Department of Justice filing a lawsuit against Google.

Joining me, our Ashish Agarwal, our Deputy General Counsel and Antitrust Council,

and Baron Zokas, the founder of Tech Freedom, and you know who he is. Guys, welcome.

Well, thanks, Ash. So this is my first podcast with Tech Freedom. Delighted to be on board.

For folks who haven't had a chance to connect with yet. I'm a recent

alumnus of the Trump administration and also a veteran of the FTC. And it is great to get back to

these issues. Baron, how are you doing? Well, it's been so long that you've had me on the podcast that

you've forgotten that the Z and my last name is silence. So that's a... No, I've always said your name wrong. You just never saw it before. Well, I think I also

pronounce, I think we all pronounce your name wrong. It is. Yeah. Osh. Yeah, yes it is. So I think

we're even. All right. So let's get into this. On Monday, which feels like a month ago, DOJ went public, but DOJ felt a lawsuit against Google, alleging that they're violating antitrust laws. Do you mind just walking us through kind of what was happening before? Obviously, there were reports that this was going to happen. Like, we knew it was coming. There were some leaks of documents that were happening. Can you set the table on the political

and the just information situation before a lawsuit? Sure. Ash, I'll, or I'll start. So, you know,

as you know, and everybody listening to this knows, I mean, big tech has been in the crosshairs.

Reports are that the Department of Justice started its investigation almost a year ago in conjunction with, I believe, all of the 50 states, maybe one or two have opted out.

And, you know, they're looking at, you know,

anti-competitive conduct for Google in a number of different areas, including its dominance of

search engines, including its dominance of online advertising, as well as possibly some past

transactions. Google has been, you know, very much invested in a number of startups.

Some of those acquisitions may come under scrutiny as well.

In addition to that, as you know, just in the past few weeks, the House Antitrust Subcommittee,

led by Chairman David Cicillini put out a very comprehensive report.

That's after holding a hearing in which the CEOs of four of the biggest tech companies were called to testify.

And in some ways, you know, read the Riot Act, both by Democrats and by Republicans for

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