By: The Guardian
February 22, 2021
Companies such as Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple face increased scrutiny from CMA
The UK’s competition watchdog plans to launch a series of antitrust investigations into big tech companies including Google and Amazon this year, in the latest sign of increased scrutiny of the practices of the Silicon Valley companies.
The Competition and Markets Authority will later this year become home to a new digital markets unit (DMU), which will police the internet companies and have powers to impose fines of billions of pounds.
“Until we have these new legal powers, if we want to achieve impact for consumers in the UK, we need to use our current [tools],” said Andrea Coscelli, the CMA chief executive, in an interview with the Financial Times. “There are quite a few cases against the digital platforms in Brussels today, and a number of these include the UK market.”