In a decision that was unexpected, the German antitrust agency concluded that the business of internet giant, Google, meets the threshold for special abuse control, which was established under an update to competition law targeted at digital giants.
The first such decision taken by Germany's Federal Cartel Office is that of the finding that Google has "paramount significance across markets".
Section 19a(1) of the German Act Against Restraints of Competition states that competition is of paramount significance. The company has an economic position of power which gives rise to a scope of action across markets that are insufficiently controlled by competition.
The FCO says that its assessment factored in the dominance of general search in Germany, as well as the market power of online advertising, and the role of the Play Store on the phone.
The competitive advantage resulting from this access to data and other resources can be used as a way to share information across markets. It is easier to operate, improve and expand existing services.
The Bundeskartellamt has two investigations in train related to the business of Google, one examining its data terms and the other looking at its News showcase deals with publishers.
The FCO will be able to immediately intervene against any anti-competitive behavior it identifies as a result of these probes being determined that Google is subject to extended abuse controls.
In theory, having worked on all of these procedures in parallel can shrink the time needed to take action. The two investigations might produce conclusions and actions, but it hasn't given a clue as to when.
The president of the Bundeskartellamt said in a statement that they have a new instrument to monitor large digital companies. In less than a year, we have decided that the importance of the internet giant is paramount across markets. This is a very important step since the Bundeskartellamt can now take action against specific anti-competitive practices. We are looking into the processing of personal data and the issue of the news showcase. We are conducting other proceedings against Amazon, Apple and Meta.
The FCO found that the paramount market significance was the subject of a comment from the internet giant.
According to the FCO, the tech giant will not appeal the decision, but it will not agree with all the facts as established.
While the EU is in the process of adopting rules against tech giants, individual countries in the region are not waiting around for the rules to be updated.
Limits on tech giants' ability to run tracking ads are supported by the European Parliament.
France's competition watchdog has already been involved in how Google cuts deals with local publishers, off the back of a pan-EU digital copyright reform that was quickly transposed into local law.
Germany is likely to follow with interventions this year.
The UK has its own reforms in train, which will apply to the most powerful tech platforms if the government passes the necessary legislation.
The Digital Markets Unit within the Competition and Markets Authority will oversee the application of the incoming regime that got up and running last year.
There are a number of big tech investigations on the docket, including a probe of Apple's App Store rules, and a major intervention examining the proposal to deprecate third party tracking cookies.
The acquisition of Giphy by Meta/ Facebook was ordered to be undone.
The age of tech giants operating with a very long rope to do as they please, which for years included getting to choose their own antitrust remedies, is finally on the wane in Europe.
In an effort to end costly antitrust litigation, Google offers behavioral pledges on news payments.
Germany's competition crosshairs are now on the data terms of Google.
Germany is looking at fine print in the latest Big Tech antitrust push.
