The German competition authority, in February of this year, said:
In view of Facebook’s superior market power, an obligatory tick on the box to agree to the company’s terms of use is not an adequate basis for such intensive data processing. The only choice the user has is...to accept the comprehensive combination of data or to refrain from using the social network. In such a difficult situation the user’s choice cannot be referred to as voluntary consent.
Mr. Chan and Mr. Slater, do you think that privacy is a key consideration in competition and merger decisions, and should competition authorities around the world take privacy issues into account?