German authority announcing increased control of big tech
The German competition authority announced that it is investigating anti-competitive practices by big tech: Google, Amazon, Apple and Meta based on a new law that entered into force in January. The Bundeskartellamt said it has informed Alphabet and its subsidiary Google that they are “subject to extended abuse control by the competition authority”.
“This is a very important step since based on this decision the Bundeskartellamt can now take action against specific anti-competitive practices by Google. We have already started to look into Google’s processing of personal data and to deal with the Google News Showcase issue in more detail”, Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt, said in a statement.
“At the same time, we are vigorously conducting other proceedings against Amazon, Apple and Meta, formerly Facebook.”
The authority said the new law “enables the Bundeskartellamt to intervene earlier and more effectively, in particular against the practices of large digital companies. In a two-step approach the Bundeskartellamt can prohibit companies which are of paramount significance for competition across markets from engaging in anti-competitive practices.”
The Bundeskartellamt said that Google “has an economic position of power which gives rise to a scope of action across markets that is insufficiently controlled by competition.”
“In its digital ecosystem Google furthermore has significant influence over other companies’ access to its users and advertising customers (e.g. via Google Search, YouTube, Android, Play Store or its advertising services) and can set rules and conditions for other businesses across markets. In this respect, these services can be described as “infrastructure” since, for one thing, a large number of other services can to a great extent only be offered using Google’s services and, for another, Google’s services are of great importance for the business activities of third parties.”
The authority stresses that due to the wide reach of its services, Google also has excellent access to data relevant for competition. The Bundeskartellamt is currently already examining Google’s data processing and the Google News Showcase service.
The authority said Google has announced not to appeal the decision and not to deny its status as norm addressee within the new law. “However, in doing so Google specifically has not declared that it necessarily agrees with all the facts as established by the authority in its decision and the conclusions drawn from these facts”, the Bundeskartellamt said.
A Google spokesperson said the company is confident that its operations are in compliance with the law.
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