Germany: Announced investigation on Meta's status as company of paramount significance across markets

On 28 January 2021, the German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) announced that it will investigate whether Facebook/Meta can be categorised as company of "paramount significance for competition across markets". Under section 19a of the German Competition Act (GWB), the Bundeskartellamt can open investigations against companies "of paramount significance for competition across markets" quickly and restrain such companies from implementing anti-competitive behaviour. The announcement was made in connection with proceedings by the Bundeskartellamt against Facebook for abuse of market power with relation to its Oculus virtual reality products since the use of the virtual reality products requires a Facebook account. Following the announcement, the authority will first determine the status of Facebook/Meta along the criteria provided by the new Section 19a of the German Competition Act (GBW). If so, the investigations will be expanded to target all anti-competitive practices by Facebook,