Brussels, 18/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is keeping a watchful eye out for any competition problems which may result from the way large digital companies (such as Facebook, Google etc) control the data they hold. At this stage, the European institution sees no grounds to intervene.
“If just a few companies control the data you need to satisfy customers and cut costs, that could give them the power to drive their rivals out of the market. And with less competition, there is a risk that there won't be enough incentive for companies to keep using big data to serve customers better”, the European Commissioner in charge of Competition policy, Margrethe Vestager, told a Digital-Life-Design (DL) conference in Munich, on Sunday 17 January.
“If a company's use of data is so bad for competition that it outweighs the benefits, we may have to step in to restore a level playing field. But we shouldn't take action just because a company holds a lot of data”, she added. She went on to conclude that “we continue to look carefully at this issue, but we haven't found a competition problem yet. This certainly doesn't mean we never will”. (Original version in French by Elodie Lamer)