Google purchase comes under fire

Google’s plan to buy a mobile advertising company has come under attack from two consumer groups.

The two groups called on the Federal Trade Commission to block Google’s proposed purchase of AdMob on antitrust grounds, saying the merger would cut into competition in the mobile advertising market.

The purchase would hurt consumers, advertisers and application developers, according to a letter to the FTC from Consumer Watchdog and the Center for Digital Democracy.

The two groups also called on the FTC to consider privacy issues in looking at the proposed deal. Because Google and AdMob both collect data on consumer behavior, their combination could “provide significant amounts of data for target advertising.”

Google’s deal to buy AdMob would involve $750 million in stock. The deal would help Google profit from advertising on cell phone applications that have become increasingly popular since the introduction of Apple’s iPhone.

This is just the latest example of Google coming under the eyes of federal regulators. The FTC probed Google’s purchase of DoubleClick, and Google backed off a deal with Yahoo after it aroused concerns at the Justice Department.

Antitrust authorities under the Obama administration have signaled their intention to take a tougher line than their predecessors, but issues surrounding Google can be complicated by the fact that the company and its employees were fervent supporters of Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign.