The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced an investigation into the “duopoly” of Apple and Google on mobile ecosystems. The development comes just one day after a similar investigation was initiated in Japan.

The CMA will look into Apple and Google’s “effective duopoly” on the supply of operating systems, including iOS and Android, the App Store and Google Play Store, and web browsers such as Safari and Chrome.

The department defines “mobile ecosystems” as “gateways through which consumers can access a variety of products, content and services,” meaning that the investigation will cover a range of services and products.

The investigation will be wide ranging, with the watchdog concerns about the nested gateways that are created as a result of the pair’s dominance of mobile ecosystem — intermediating how consumers can access a variety of products, content and services.

It beileves that consumers could be “losing out across a wide range of areas” as a result of the purported duopoly, leading to “reduced innovation” and “consumers paying higher prices.” Further, the investigation will also examine the effect of the companies’ market power on other businesses, including app developers and advertisers.

This new development comes at a time when UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is already investigating Apple’s ‌App Store‌ policies. Market investigations can make recommendations to the government or other bodies in the UK, issue guidance to businesses and consumers, and more.

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Big Tech companies have been facing a lot of scrutinies for some time now and demand for regulating such firms is increasing. Now, Britain’s competition watchdog has proposed that there should be tailored rules to regulate tech giants.

The companies affected by this include the likes of Google and Facebook. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that a legally binding code of conduct backed up by penalties could extend to fines of up to 10 percent of turnover.

It also proposed that the enhanced merger rules should be set up in legislation. It also reveals that the code will be enforced by a new Digital Markets Unit that will comprise of lawyers, data scientists, and other experts.

While the new unit will be set up in April, the legislation might not be in place until 2022. It will be part of a wider regulatory framework that will include new rules for harmful online content and data protection.

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Further, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) said that some of the world’s biggest tech companies may have to be more transparent about the services they provide and how they use consumers’ data.

This development from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) comes just a week before the European Union is set to outline its own rules for governing the digital services and markets.

Apart from regulatory changes, big tech companies are also facing antitrust scrutiny around the world. While countries like the USA, China, and India have a few ongoing antitrust investigations against Google or its subsidiaries, the state and federal authorities in the U.S. are expected to file antitrust lawsuits against Facebook in the coming days.

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