European regulators launch contemporary probes of Fb, Google – KIRO 7 Information Seattle

LONDON – (AP) – European Union and UK regulators launched two antitrust investigations on Friday to investigate whether Facebook is distorting competition in the classifieds market by using data to unfairly compete with competing services.

German officials meanwhile launched a new investigation against Google and used heightened powers to investigate digital giants.

The multiple investigations represent the recent escalation of European regulators in their struggle to curb the dominance of large American tech companies. The focus of the investigations in the EU and the UK underscores a longstanding concern that the data that companies hold about individuals or collect companies with their platforms, can be used to gain an advantage over competitors, which could also include the same companies.

“Facebook collects huge amounts of data about the activities of the users of its social network and beyond, in order to target customer groups,” said Margrethe Vestager, the executive vice-president of the European Commission responsible for competition policy. “We will examine in detail whether Facebook is creating an unjustified competitive advantage with this data, especially in the area of ​​online classified ads, where people buy and sell goods every day and where Facebook also competes with companies from which it collects data.”

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority announced in a simultaneous announcement that it had launched its own investigation to investigate whether Facebook’s collection and use of data had given Facebook an unfair advantage over competitors using classified data and online dating. Offer services.

Facebook said it will “continue to cooperate fully with the investigation to show that it is unfounded”.

Marketplace, Facebook’s classified ad service and Facebook dating “offer people more choice and both products operate in a highly competitive environment with many large established providers,” the company said in a statement.

The EU’s executive commission, the bloc’s top antitrust agency, is looking into the possibility of Facebook collecting data on what users are interested in based on how competing classifieds sites advertise their services to Facebook users. The Commission is concerned that Facebook will then use this data to customize Marketplace to overtake competing sites.

It also examines whether the way Marketplace is embedded in the social network gives Facebook an edge to reach customers and exclude competing websites, which is against EU competition rules.

The British competition watchdog is conducting its own investigation, which also examines whether data from Facebook login has been used improperly. The feature allows users to log into other websites, apps, and services with their Facebook credentials, making it a potentially great source of information about users’ interests.

“We intend to thoroughly investigate Facebook’s use of data to assess whether its business practices give it an unfair advantage in online dating and classifieds,” said Andrea Coscelli, CEO of the CMA, in a press release.

The EU and UK investigations could lead to formal charges, but that is not something that can be taken for granted. Regulators have the power to impose fines of up to 10% of a company’s annual revenue, which in the case of Facebook would be billions of dollars.

Also on Friday, the German competition watchdog, which has been given new powers for digital companies, opened its latest investigation against Google. The Federal Cartel Office is examining whether Google’s News Showcase, a licensing platform for publishers launched in autumn last year, provides for “unreasonable conditions” in contracts for news publishers.

The Federal Office is also checking whether the search results give preference to publishers who use the platform at the expense of others who are not registered.

Google denies giving preference to news partners and cooperates with the German watchdog agency.

US technology giants were already facing increased scrutiny of their business practices in Europe. Officials in Brussels have accused Apple of stifling competition in streaming music, accused Amazon of using data from independent retailers to unfairly compete against them in its own products, and informally investigating Google’s data practices for promotional purposes.

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