UK Competition Watchdog Plans New Big Tech Probes

England’s antitrust regulator is launching new investigations, buoyed by additional legal authority over tech giants.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced these plans Tuesday (Jan. 7), saying it was taking advantage of the new “digital markets competition regime” which came into force on Jan. 1 of this year.

The new regime lets the CMA designate companies with “strategic market status” (SMS) in relation to certain digital activity. Once that designation is in place, the regulator can impose conduct requirements or establish pro-competition measures “to achieve positive outcomes for UK consumers and businesses.”

According to the announcement, the CMA will launch SMS designation investigations into two “areas of digital activity,” saying it would provide more details later in the month. The regulator says it expects a brief pause before beginning an investigation into another area of digital activity, likely around midyear.

“The new digital markets competition regime provides a unique opportunity to harness the benefits of investment and innovation from the largest digital firms whilst ensuring a level playing-field for the many start-ups and scale-ups across the UK tech sector,” CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell said in the announcement.

“It will ensure that the multitude of UK businesses and consumers who depend on these large firms for critical products and services benefit from more innovation, more choice and more competitive prices.”

The announcement comes weeks after a CMA study found that Apple and Google’s mobile ecosystem policies in the United Kingdom were “holding back innovation.” The independent group that conducted that study recommended the CMA consider a formal investigation into the two tech giants.

The study found that Apple’s rules regarding how browsers work on its iOS mobile operating system prevent competitors from providing new, innovative features. It also showed that a revenue-sharing agreement between Apple and Google reduces their incentive to compete in mobile browsers on iOS, and that the two companies manipulate the presentation of browser choices to make their own browser the easiest option.

A spokesperson for Apple told PYMNTS at the time that the company was concerned that the “interventions” discussed in the report “would undermine user privacy and security and hinder our ability to make the kind of technology that sets Apple apart,” the statement said.

And in a statement to Bloomberg News, Google said: “Android’s openness has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps.”