Under its expanded powers to monitor internet giants, Germany's Federal Cartel Office said it was looking into Google's use of personal data and its Google News Showcase product, as well as cases involving Amazon, Apple, and Facebook owner Meta.
The regulator announced on Wednesday that it had found that Alphabet, the parent firm of Google, fulfilled the scale barrier necessary for a business to be subject to new enhanced supervisory powers to supervise major Internet companies, which it obtained last year.
"The Federal Cartel Office may now address tangible types of anti-competitive behavior," said office president Andreas Mundt. "We've already begun looking into Google's processing of personal data and the Google News Showcase subject more closely."
He went on to say that the Federal Cartel Office was looking into further instances involving Amazon, Apple, and Meta, the owner of Facebook. In May of last year, the agency began...
