CFPB looking to put Google under federal supervision – WaPo

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has taken steps to place Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) under formal federal supervision, The Washington Post reported Thursday, subjecting the company to the regular inspections and other rigorous monitoring imposed on major banks.

At the moment, the scope of the CFPB’s concerns is not clear, and its order does not appear to be final, the report said.

The CFPB has worked to finalize a broader set of rules that could allow it to impose supervision across the tech industry, covering other large firms like Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), and PayPal-owned (PYPL) Venmo that offer financial tools and services.

Google offers Google Wallet, which stores credit cards digitally and allows users to pay with their smartphones. It previously offered Google Pay but discontinued it in June this year after finding that the former is used five times more in the U.S.

To supervise Google, the agency must identify the company’s activities as a risk to consumers, the report said.

The CFPB is also investigating Meta (META) around its use of financial data and ads and has probed Block (SQ), the owner of Cash App, over its “handling of customer complaints and disputes.”

The CFPB was formed after the 2008 financial crisis and protects consumers from unfair, deceptive, or predatory financial practices and conducts such inspections and supervisions at large banks and credit unions.