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ARTICLE · 02 JUNE 2021

Bundeskartellamt Opens Investigation Into Google

Preiskel & Co
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The Bundeskartellamt, Germany's National Competition Authority, has announced the opening of an investigation into Google in relation to its data collection practices.

European UnionAntitrust/Competition Law
Tim Cowen
Tim Cowen

The Bundeskartellamt, Germany's National Competition Authority, has announced the opening of an investigation into Google in relation to its data collection practices.

The investigation will consider whether Google Germany, Google Ireland, and Google's parent company, Alphabet, handle data in a way that constitutes abuse of a dominant market position. The Bundeskartellamt press release indicates that the investigation is under Section 19a of the GWB Digitalisation Act, an act which gave new powers to the German regulator to tackle competition issues arising in digital markets.

The announcement follows one earlier this month that the regulator was using the same new powers to investigate Amazon, and one in January 2021 regarding Facebook.

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