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The Bundeskartellamt announced on Tuesday in Bonn that two proceedings were initiated under the new regulations for digital corporations. In one proceeding, the antitrust watchdogs want to check whether Google has a cross-market significance. In a second procedure, the authority takes a close look at the conditions for data processing. After the procedure has been completed, certain behavior patterns or measures could be prohibited.
A Google spokesman said to the Procedure: “We will cooperate extensively with the German competition authority and will be happy to answer your questions.” An amended competition law came into force in January. On this basis, the Cartel Office can more easily take action against distortions of competition if dominant digital companies take advantage of their position. The agency first embarked on the new path at the end of January on Facebook and a week ago on Amazon. The Cartel Office has long been very critical of the market power of the Internet giants. In the past few years, the competition watchdogs took action against the US corporations several times.
Head of Office Andreas Mundt emphasized that there are competitors against a company with cross-market importance very difficult. “Due to the multitude of digital services such as the search engine, YouTube, Maps, the Android operating system or the Chrome browser, Google can consider it to be of paramount cross-market importance for the competition.”
Does Google have a competitive advantage?
Regarding data processing, Mundt said that Google had a strategic advantage due to the access to data relevant to competition. Therefore one will take a closer look at the conditions for data processing. “A central question is whether consumers have sufficient options for the use of their data by Google if they want to use Google services.”
Anyone who uses Google must first agree to the data processing conditions. The Federal Cartel Office now wants to examine whether the conditions allow Google to carry out extensive data processing across different services. The question of what choices users actually have when it comes to data processing is also important for the evaluation under antitrust law. The protection of consumer choice is a major concern of antitrust law, says the press release.
A Google spokesman emphasized that people use the services used because they are helpful and “not because they are forced to do so or because they cannot find any alternatives”. “Consumers in Germany have a huge choice of online services,” said the spokesman. “We give people easy control over how their information is used and we limit the use of personal data.” dpa
