Germany’s antitrust regulator opened an investigation into PayPal Holdings Inc. over potential obstruction of competitors and restriction of price competition
(Bloomberg) — Germany’s antitrust regulator opened an investigation into PayPal Holdings Inc. over potential obstruction of competitors and restriction of price competition
The Federal Cartel Office is looking at PayPal’s user terms that block business from offering products at lower prices if their customers chose other payment services. The regulator will also look at how the company bans sellers from making it more convenient to use other payment methods than PayPal.
“We will now examine what market power PayPal has and to what extent online retailers are dependent on offering PayPal as a payment method,” Andreas Mundt, the Cartel Office’s head, said. “If businesses are prevented from taking into account the costs of payment methods, new payment methods can fair worse in price and quality competition or not even get into the market.”
Paypal didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
The probe adds to the long list of Silicon Valley Tech giants targeted by Mundt’s office. The office has cases pending against Amazon.com Inc., Google, Facebook, and Apple Inc. Recently, they sent Alphabet Inc.’s Google a warning letter over their customer data terms.
–With assistance from Agatha Cantrill.
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