Japan to act against abuses by Big Tech firms

Price slash: The FTC will conduct research into Japan’s mobile phone market to see whether there is any room for improvement to spur competition. — Bloomberg

TOKYO: Japan will join forces with the United States and Europe to take on any market abuses by the four Big Tech companies, the new head of its antitrust watchdog said, a sign Tokyo will join global efforts to regulate digital platform operators.

Kazuyuki Furuya, chairman of Japan’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC), also said Tokyo could open a probe into any merger or business tie-up involving fitness tracker maker Fitbit if the size of such deals are big enough.