Germany starts competition investigation into Google practices

Germany’s competition authority Bundeskartellamt has initiated an investigation into Google’s management of data and its consequence to unfair competitive advantage. The authority believes that the vast range of products provided by Google, including email, search engine, maps, video, web browsing, creates an ecosystem adverse to competition. The president of the Bundeskartellamt has said that ‘Google’s business model relies, to a very large extent, on processing data relating to its users. Due to its established access to data relevant for competition, Google enjoys a strategic advantage’. The investigation will assess whether Google’s dominant position limits competition and the company’s data processing terms.