Germany investigating Facebook over virtual reality products

Germany’s largest competition regulator announced an investigation into Facebook on Thursday, pointing to the company’s acquisition of virtual reality software and devices and requirement that purchasers of Oculus virtual reality glasses register accounts on Facebook.

The Associated Press reported that the Federal Cartel Office said it would examine whether the practice puts improper pressure on other virtual reality companies or constitutes dominance of the augmented reality market.

“Linking virtual reality products and the group’s social network in this way could constitute a prohibited abuse of dominance by Facebook,” the body’s president, Andreas Mundt, said according to the AP. “With its social network Facebook holds a dominant position in Germany and is also already an important player in the emerging but growing VR market. We intend to examine whether and to what extent this tying arrangement will affect competition in both areas of activity.”

A Facebook spokesperson said in response that the company “will cooperate fully” with the investigation, thought it believes “that there is no basis” for the probe.

The probe comes in response to Facebook’s announcement that owners of Oculus products, which Facebook purchased in 2014, would have until 2023 to register accounts or merge existing accounts with Facebook’s system. The company’s newest glasses, dubbed the Quest 2, require a Facebook login to use. None of the products are currently for sale in Germany, as Facebook paused its sales of the devices in the country this year.

The German regulator previously ordered the company to stop forcing users of WhatsApp and Instagram, two other companies owned by Facebook, to share their data for advertising purposes in a manner that it argued exploits Facebook’s users. Facebook has appealed the decision in the German court system.