Web and Technology News
The U.K.’s competition regulator has designated Apple and Google with “strategic market status” in their mobile platforms, giving the regulator new powers to enforce competition in areas like app stores, browsers, and operating systems.
The CMA has designated Google as having “strategic market status” in the search and search advertising markets, which means the company has such “a substantial and entrenched” position that it requires special regulations to ensure fair competition.
If Apple and Google don’t make it easier for users to discover third-party browsers, the companies will not have as much of a competitive need to improve Safari and Chrome.
A U.K. competition authority investigation of Apple and Google’s mobile browsers has concluded that the mobile duopoly’s policies are “holding back innovation” and could also be limiting economic growth. “Mobile browsers a…
A coalition of organizations and individuals have signed an open letter expressing concern at the U.K. government’s decision to appoint a former Amazon executive as chair of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The group, which includes U…
Apple reportedly restricts competition by limiting the use of rival browsers on its iOS devices and effectively requiring developers to use its WebKit browser engine.
Google owns four prominent ad tech tools, and the Competition and Markets Authority said it is using its industry dominance to prevent competition from rivals.
The new rules from the Competition and Markets Authority will allow it to curb anticompetitive practices “more holistically.”
The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority has concluded that Amazon’s partnership with Anthropic does not create a relevant merger situation and has closed its investigation.
Microsoft won’t be facing antitrust scrutiny in the U.K. over its recent investment into French AI startup Mistral AI.
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The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching preliminary enquiries into whether the close-knit tie-ups and hiring practices involving Microsoft, Amazon and a trio of AI startup falls within the scope of its merger rules —…
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has confirmed that it’s launching a formal “phase 2” investigation into the planned merger between Vodafone and Three UK. The CMA says that the deal could lead to higher prices for co…
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching a formal probe into the proposed merger between Vodafone and Three UK. The news hardly comes as a surprise, given that the £15 billion ($19 billion) joint venture would reduce the U….
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) today announced that it has accepted proposals from Facebook’s parent Meta and Amazon to limit how they use data gathered from their respective marketplaces to benefit their own products an…
Microsoft has finally done it — nearly two years after first revealing plans to acquire gaming giant Activision Blizzard in a mammoth $68.7 billion deal, it has managed to secure the final regulatory clearance required to make Activision a fully-fledge…
It has been a long time coming, but Microsoft’s near-two year attempt to buy gaming giant Activision is finally happening, after the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) accepted a restructured proposal that addresses the CMA’s concerns about…
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has provisionally concluded that Adobe’s proposed $20 billion bid for digital design rival Figma could result in a “substantial lessening of competition” in the U.K for designers. As a result of its initial findings, the CMA is progressing the case to an in-depth “phase 2” investigation, albeit the […]
UK readies in-depth investigation into Adobe’s $20B Figma acquisition by Paul Sawers originally published on TechCrunch
The U.K.’s antitrust regulator has given the go-ahead to Amazon’s proposed billion-dollar iRobot acquisition, concluding that the deal “would not lead to competition concerns in the U.K.” Amazon first revealed plans to buy robot vacuum maker iRobot for $1.7 billion last August, though the megabucks deal was always likely to draw scrutiny from regulators. The […]
Amazon’s $1.7B iRobot acquisition greenlighted by UK antitrust regulator by Paul Sawers originally published on TechCrunch
Facebook’s parent Meta has given key assurances to U.K. antitrust regulators as it looks to counter concerns over how it uses advertising data to benefit its own products. The news comes in the same week as Meta revealed it was selling GIF platform Giphy for $53 million three years after buying it for $400 million, following […]
To avert more UK antitrust woes, Meta to limit how it uses ad data to boost Facebook Marketplace by Paul Sawers originally published on TechCrunch
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has officially greenlighted the proposed $7.3 billion merger between Viasat and Inmarsat. London-based Inmarsat and its U.S. rival Viasat offer various satellite services including in-flight Wi-Fi to commercial airlines. Today’s news comes some two months after the CMA revealed that it was likely to give the merger the […]
UK greenlights $7.3B merger between satellite rivals Viasat and Inmarsat by Paul Sawers originally published on TechCrunch
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has confirmed that it intends to block Microsoft’s megabucks Activision acquisition, concluding that such a merger would create “…the most powerful operator” in the cloud gaming market. The CMA noted that with a current share of 60-70%, acquiring Activision’s portfolio of games would “substantially weaken competition” in the […]
UK blocks Microsoft’s planned $68.7B Activision bid, saying it would ‘substantially weaken competition’ by Paul Sawers originally published on TechCrunch
After putting Broadcom on notice last week that it was concerned that the proposed $61 billion Broadcom-VMware deal could adversely affect competition in the server market, the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced today that it was proceeding with an in-depth investigation that could take up to six months. “The CMA has referred the anticipated […]
U.K. competition authority moves forward with in-depth probe of $61B Broadcom-VMware deal by Ron Miller originally published on TechCrunch
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) won’t be pursuing an anti-competition collusion case against Google and Facebook’s parent Meta, following a similar decision made by its counterparts in the Europe Union. However, Google will remain under the CMA’s spotlight, with parts of the Google-Meta case now being bundled with a separate ongoing antitrust against […]
UK closes ‘Jedi Blue’ antitrust collusion case against Google and Meta by Paul Sawers originally published on TechCrunch
Bye-bye: Meta has again been ordered by the UK’s competition watchdog to sell animated GIF platform, Giphy. And this time it’s final. The decision follows a ‘stay of execution’ for Meta this summer, after the U.K.’s Competition Appeal Tribunal sent the case back to the antitrust regulator to be reassessed following a procedural finding that […]
Meta gets final order to sell Giphy from UK antitrust watchdog by Natasha Lomas originally published on TechCrunch
The UK’s competition watchdog has just announced another investigation into Google over potential antitrust abuses around adtech. This is the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) second probe of Google’s adtech practices — after said it would investigate an ad deal between Google and Facebook referred to internally as ‘Jedi Blue’, back in March. (That deal […]