Trend To Watch: Antitrust And Data Protection Regulators Seek Greater Alignment In 2022—Big Data May Be A Target

Big data, beware. In 2021, we saw increased collaboration between antitrust and data protection regulators concerned with companies amassing and using personal data for commercial purposes. That trend is here to stay: European regulators aim to continue and expand on these enforcement efforts in 2022, especially against technology companies that collect large amounts of consumer data. For example, the European Commission is currently investigating Google's practices limiting third-party competitors' access to user data to prevent them from advertising on websites and apps.

UK regulators have played a leading role thus far. The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has required Meta Platforms (the social media company formerly known as Facebook) to divest Giphy based on the concern that Meta could require other social media platforms to provide more user data in order to access Giphy's GIFs, giving Meta increased market power in relation to its competitors. UK