EU to review behaviour of web giants in digital market overhaul

THINLY VEILED PROTECTIONISM: As with other EU inquiries into new digital businesses, including a potentially costly antitrust suit launched last month against Google, the biggest targets are US firms which dominate the European market.

BRUSSELS: The European Commission will conduct a comprehensive review this year of the role of web giants such as Google, Facebook and Amazon to decide whether it should regulate them more tightly, it said. 

The inquiry will focus on the transparency of search results and pricing policies, how online platforms use the data they acquire, their relationships with other businesses and how they promote their own services to the disadvantage of competitors.