The Federal Trade Commission is alerting high-tech companies to gather data ahead of a probe of the dominance of Google Inc in the Internet search industry, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

The report, citing three people familiar with the matter, said the agency told companies it plans to issue civil investigative demands -- which are similar to subpoenas -- for the information.

The FTC has been considering a broad investigation into Google.

(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer)

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