In a late Friday disclosure, Google revealed that the office of the Texas attorney general has initiated the first broad antitrust review of the search and advertising practices of the company in the US.

The investigation has been prompted by complaints pertaining to the supposed abuse of Google’s clout as the leading search engine. Already, European regulators are investigating allegations that Google favors its own services in its results rather than rival websites.

With Google having grown from a quirky startup, born 12 years back in a Silicon Valley garage, to one of the world’s most powerful businesses, the review will chiefly focus on whether the company has been manipulating its search results to thwart competition.

Since nearly two-third of the search requests in the US are processed by Google, the website rankings largely affects the business prospects of companies – a high website ranking on the first page of Google’s results is likely to attract more traffic and generate more revenue; while the back page rankings can be financially devastating, and have even brought about the ruin of some Internet companies.

Noting that the Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is the first state attorney general to begin investigations into whether Google’s search formula is biased, Google’s deputy general counsel Don Harrison said in a Friday blog post: “We look forward to answering Abbott's questions because we're confident that Google operates in the best interests of our users.”