This combination of pictures created on July 10, 2019 shows a Facebook logo on July 4, 2019 in Nantes, an Apple logo in San Francisco on September 7, 2016, a Google logo in China's Chongqing on August 23, 2018, and an Amazon logo in New York on September Photograph:( AFP )
Japan is likely to join the United States and Europe to regulate the “Big Tech” companies
Japan is likely to join the United States and Europe to regulate the “Big Tech” companies.
Kazuyuki Furuya, chairman of Japan's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) told Reuters on Monday that the country could also initiate a probe into mergers and dealings that involve Fitbit, a fitness tracker company.
If the scale of any merger is unprecedented, the country intends to launch investigations.
"If the size of any merger or business-tie up is big, we can launch an anti-monopoly investigation into the buyer's process of acquiring a start-up (like Fitbit)," he further told Reuters.
He added that Japan is closely observing similar moves in the world, especially Europe. ”We're closely watching developments including in Europe”, he added.
In August 2020, European Union regulators had initiated an investigation into a potential deal between Google and Fitbit. Alphabet’s Google was set to lock a $2.1 billion deal to counter Apple and Samsung in the wearable market.
After this move, the country will be able to effectively challenge market abuses by the four Big Tech companies - GAFA, or Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon which are currently under scrutiny in Europe and the United States.
Furuya further told Reuters that GAFA companies follow similar business practices globally, and called global coordination “crucial”.
"This is an area I will push through aggressively. “We'll work closely with our US and European counterparts, and respond if to any moves that hamper competition”, he said.
Furuya took charge of the position in September, and also suggested that they would also be observing Japan’s phone market.