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Britain to curb Google and Facebook with tougher competition rules

Fri, 27th Nov 2020 00:01

By Paul Sandle

LONDON, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Britain will impose a new
competition regime next year to prevent Google and
Facebook using their dominance to push out smaller firms
and disadvantage consumers.

The code will be enforced by a dedicated unit within the
Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which this year said it
needed new laws to keep the tech giants in check.

Google and Facebook dominate digital advertising, accounting
for around 80% of 14 billion pounds ($18.7 billion) spent in
2019, Britain's competition regulator the CMA said.

The two U.S. companies have said they are committed to
working with the British government and regulator on digital
advertising, including giving users greater control over their
data and the ads they are served.

While "unashamedly pro-tech", Britain's Digital Secretary
Oliver Dowden said there was a growing consensus that the
concentration of power in a small number of companies was
curtailing growth, reducing innovation and having negative
impacts on the people and businesses that rely on them.

"It's time to address that and unleash a new age of tech
growth," Dowden said on Friday.

The newly-created Digital Markets Unit, which will begin
work in April, could be given powers to suspend, block and
reverse decisions made by technology firms and to impose
financial penalties for non-compliance.

Companies will have to be more transparent about how they
use consumer data and restrictions that make it hard to use
rival platforms will be banned, the government said, adding that
the rules will also support the news industry, rebalancing the
relationship between publishers and platforms.

The CMA said on Monday it was assessing whether a complaint
about Google technology warranted a formal investigation.

Marketers for an Open Web (MOW), a coalition of technology
and publishing companies, said Google was modifying its Chrome
browser and Chromium developer tools to give it greater control
over publishers and advertisers.

Google said advertising practices needed to adapt to
changing expectations around how data was collected and used.
($1 = 0.7501 pounds)
(Reporting by Paul Sandle;
Editing by Alexander Smith)

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