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The
Competition and Markets Authority said it would undertake a
"market study" into the matter to see whether the pair's
effective duopoly was stifling competition and ripping off
consumers, or hurting businesses like app developers.
Governments around the world are looking at strengthening the
regulation of U.S. tech giants that have become even more
powerful during the COVID-19 pandemic, and there are multiple
investigations globally into their market positions including in
the United States and the European Union.
Britain is setting up a dedicated unit within the CMA to keep
the tech giants in check and encourage digital competition but
said it needed to start work probing iPhone maker Apple and the
Google-powered Android system as soon as possible.
"Our ongoing work into big tech has already uncovered some
worrying trends and we know consumers and businesses could be
harmed if they go unchecked," CMA chief executive Andrea
Coscelli said in a statement on Tuesday.
The CMA said the new study into mobile ecosystems would be
broader than some of the other competition probes it already has
into Apple's App Store and Google's Privacy Sandbox.
Last year, the CMA concluded an investigation into digital
advertising, concluding that Google and Facebook have developed
unassailable market positions, with the two accounting for
nearly 80% of UK's digital advertising spend. It recommended
regulatory changes as a result.
(Reporting by Sarah Young in London, additional reporting by
Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
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