UK to curb Google and Facebook with tougher competition rules

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The United Kingdom will impose a new competition regime from next year in order to attempt to stop Google and Facebook with their dominance to push out smaller companies and disadvantage consumers.

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

Google and Facebook dominate digital advertising, accounting for around 80% of 14 billion pounds spent 2019, Britain's competition regulator the CMA explained.

The two US companies have said they are committed to working together with the British government and regulator on electronic advertising, such as giving users better control over their data and the ads they are served.

While "unashamedly pro-tech", Britain's Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden stated there was a growing consensus that the concentration of power in a few businesses was curtailing expansion, reducing innovation and having negative impacts on the people and businesses that rely on these.

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

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

Companies will have to be transparent about how they use customer information and constraints which make it hard to utilize rival platforms will be prohibited, the government said, adding that the rules will also encourage the information business, rebalancing the relationship between platforms and publishers.

The CMA said on Monday it had been assessing if a complaint about Google technology justified a formal investigation.

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

Google said advertisements practices necessary to accommodate changing expectations around the data was gathered and used.

The team at Platform Executive hope you have enjoyed this news article. Initial reporting via our official content partners at Thomson Reuters. Reporting by Paul Sandle. Editing by Alexander Smith.

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