The Wall Street Journal reports that both the European Union and the United Kingdom have opened formal antitrust investigations into Facebook’s classified-ads service Marketplace.
The piece reported that agencies are investigating whether Facebook repurposes data it gathers from advertisers who buy ads in order to give illegal advantages to its own services, including its Marketplace online flea market.
Germany’s competition regulator announced that it is opening an investigation into Google’s News Showcase. That probe, the story says, will look into whether Google is imposing unfair conditions on publishers and how it selects participants.
While the Canadian government continues not to act on regulating Big Tech, these three newly opened cases are part of a new wave of antitrust enforcement currently taking place in Europe.
