Kazuyuki Furuya, the new head of the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), said that Japan would be teaming up with the US and Europe to work on regulations for the four biggest names in Silicon Valley - Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook (GAAF). Thus, Tokyo may soon open a probe into market abuses by Big Tech, becoming the latest country to join the fight against tech giants.
The country’s antitrust watchdog declared that it would investigate any deal involving Fitbit, a manufacturer of electronic fitness gadgets. Presently, the watchdogs keep an eye on the negotiations between Fitbit and Google due to the size of the deal. "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)," Mr. Furuya pointed out. Notably, EU antitrust regulators in August launched a similar investigation into a $2.1 billion deal by Google’s bid to buy Fitbit. Reportedly, Google tried to outplay Apple and Samsung in the wearable technology market.
Japan has also decided to closely watch all four Big Tech companies, namely Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook as they allegedly use their market dominance to squash competition. According to Kazuyuki Furuya, the largest tech giants stick to the same methods when doing business. Therefore, it will be easier for international antitrust regulators to tackle anti-competitive practices. "We’ll work closely with our US and European counterparts, and respond if there are any moves that hamper competition," he added.
Moreover, the Fair Trade Commission also monitors the situation in the smartphone industry. It will soon launch an investigation into this segment of the market to see how they can spur more competition. The market watchdogs shifted their attention to the smartphone industry after Yoshihide Suga, the Prime Minister of Japan said that the prices of smartphones were unreasonably high.
