The German Federal Cartel Office, Bundeskartellamt, announced it has opened a proceeding against Facebook to examine the links between Oculus virtual reality products and the social media platform. The regulator is concerned about a requirement for Oculus users to have a Facebook account in order to access the services.
Facebook has started to integrate the virtual reality functions of Oculus into the social network Facebook.com. The Oculus platform previously was operated separately from Facebook. It will be offered now as an additional function on Facebook's social network, under the name “Facebook Reality Labs”.
Furthermore, the use of the Quest 2 VR glasses will require registration using a Facebook account, and existing Oculus accounts can no longer be used for registration and the new hardware. The distribution of the new VR glasses outside Germany has already begun.
The Bundeskartellamt already prohibited Facebook last year from sharing user data across its different apps. In response, Facebook successfully lodged an emergency appeal against the decision of the Bundeskartellamt decision with the Higher Regional Court in Duesseldorf so that the authority could not enforce its decision against the company. In June, the Federal Court of Justice reversed the decision of the Higher Regional Court and confirmed the Bundeskartellamt’s decision. The hearing in the main proceeding at the Duesseldorf Higher Regional Court has been postponed to 26 March 2021.
