Your Data Could Be at the Center of the Fight Against Big Tech

As American regulators and lawmakers intensify their scrutiny of Big Tech, there is a lot of discussion about whether or how they could accuse the companies of violating antitrust law. Often, regulators look to whether a company is causing consumer harm— a standard that can be hard to prove when a service is free. Germany’s top antitrust enforcer, Andreas Mundt, believes regulators should attack what Big Tech values most: data. He argues that the companies are so dominant in their core businesses that consumers, if they want to search the internet or be on social media, have no choice but to share their personal data. The data then strengthens the tech companies’ position over rivals even more — and therefore is anticompetitive. The companies have strongly fought against his argument. But it is gaining traction in antitrust circles.