German regulator on Wednesday placed Meta, owner of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, under enhanced surveillance to investigate and prevent potential abuses.

The Federal Cartel Office said it had identified Meta as a “extremely important” company in the markets, paving the way for authorities to sanction “potential violations of free competition”.

Currently, there are two investigations affecting this group opened by the German regulator.

Meta has joined Google for enhanced surveillance under a German free competition law of January 2021.

“The digital ecosystem created by Meta has a large user base and makes the company a major player in social networks,” said Andreas Mundt, head of the Federal Cartel Office.

Noting the great importance of Meta, the regulator added that it “has the capacity to respond to any violation of free competition more effectively than any of the tools we have hitherto.”

Tech giants are coming under increasing surveillance around the world due to their dominant position and tax practices.

In February, Meta threatened to shut down its services in European Union (EU) countries due to a court order preventing it from transferring data from European users to its US headquarters.

“If we are not allowed to transfer data between countries and regions in which we operate, or we are restricted from sharing data between our products and services, our services may be affected »He stated the company that manages Mark Zuckerberg.