UK regulators probing Google’s purchase of data-analytics firm Looker

United Kingdom regulators are probing Google’s purchase of the data-analytics firm Looker, adding to the tech giant’s antitrust woes.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority is assessing whether the $2.6 billion acquisition could lead to a “substantial lessening of competition” in the market, the watchdog said Monday.

The department is taking comments on the deal until Dec. 20 to help with its inquiry.

Google said the US Federal Trade Commission cleared the Looker acquisition on Nov. 6, citing a public filing on the agency’s website. Looker did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

The probe comes as Google faces additional antitrust scrutiny from authorities in the US and the European Union.

Fifty US attorneys general are examining the search-engine behemoth’s control of online traffic and advertising markets. And the US Department of Justice has launched its own review of whether Google and other big tech firms have hurt competition or consumers.

Antitrust regulators in the EU have also sought information about why and how Google collects data, as part of a preliminary investigation, Reuters reported.

Google announced plans in June to buy Looker and make the platform part of its Google Cloud division. Google hopes to bolster its analytics offering with the all-cash transaction, which the company expected to complete this year.

Shares of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, were trading down about 0.7 percent, at $1,295.45, as of 9:56 a.m. Monday.