According to The Wall Street Journal, FTC staff was aware that Google has misused its dominant position in the market and it has used it for anti-competitive decisions. The report mentioned that experts at a federal regulatory agency concluded this in 2012 but still no further inquiry was conducted.

However, Google ignored a big antitrust fight since the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) didn't precede a legal action it on basis of those findings. In 2013, the FTC concluded a two-year investigation into the company's online monopoly power.

All five FTC commissioners decided not to take any legal action against Google. However, on Thursday, it was reported by the Wall Street Journal that FTC investigators certainly concluded that Google misused its monopoly power. According to secret internal documents obtained by the Journal, it was found by the FTC staff that Google made use of anticompetitive tactics, which impacted competitors such as Yelp and TripAdvisor.

The decision made by FTC to not sue Google is opposite to what was found in investigation of the matter. According to the FTC document, "It is clear that Google's threat was intended to produce, and did produce, the desired effect, which was to coerce Yelp and TripAdvisor into backing down. Google would "use its monopoly power over search to extract the fruits of its rivals' innovations".

FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz stated at a press conference that Google has not violated the American antitrust laws.

According to reports, FTC didn't sue Google because it would have become a difficult case. It was necessary to prove that Google was a monopoly power that was harming competition along with the public in order to make the case strong.