Germany puts Meta under heightened surveillance

The German competition policeman decided on Wednesday to place Meta, Facebook’s parent company, under enhanced surveillance, under a 2021 law extending its powers against the heavyweights of the net.

In this sense, the Federal Cartel Office has indicated that it has determined that Meta is a company “of paramount importance” in the markets, which opens the way for the authorities to sanction “possible breaches of competition “While two investigations targeting the group have already been opened by the German antitrust.

Meta, a digital giant operating platforms Facebook (including Messenger), Instagram and WhatsApp, said it will not appeal the decision, according to the Agency’s statement.

For Andreas Mundt, president of the organization, “the digital ecosystem created by Meta with a very large number of users” makes this company a “central player in the field of social media”.

Antitrust noted Meta’s “central position” in its markets, a classification that gives it the ability to “fight against any violation of competition law much more effectively” than before.

The Anti-Cartel Office is enforcing a law that came into force last year, which strengthens its powers against the mainly digital companies dominating the market. This text gives it the power to regulate the activities of the groups concerned.

The competition policeman had already blocked the merger of user data from different Meta services in early 2019, a decision contested by the group and which has not yet been decided by the courts.