Japan is planning to tighten regulation of tech giants like Google and Facebook after an expert panel called for better oversight on competition and privacy, an official said Thursday.
Japan has followed in the footsteps of other countries in scrutinizing the dominant role played by the world’s largest information technology companies, including Big Four tech firms Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon.
The government has now issued a report based on expert opinion that urges new regulatory oversight plans by next year.
Despite bringing benefits, tech giants “tend to monopolize the market through their features such as… low costs and economies of scale,” the report said.
It calls for better protection of consumer privacy and for more fairness and transparency from the firms about technologies that control market access.
Japan’s anti-trust authorities have already said they plan a probe into whether global tech firms are using their market leader positions to exploit contractors or obstruct competition.