A German government regulator is investigating Facebook for requiring Oculus VR headset owners to sign in to their devices with a Facebook account.
The goal of the Bundeskartellamt's probe is to examine whether forcing Oculus VR owners to use a Facebook account will affect competition in the social networking space and the emerging virtual reality market. “Linking virtual reality products and the group’s social network in this way could constitute a prohibited abuse of dominance by Facebook,” Andreas Mundt, president of the Bundeskartellamt, said in today’s announcement.
The social network bought Oculus VR in 2014, but for a time you could sign into its virtual reality headsets using either an Oculus account or Facebook profile. Thus, it was easy to separate your Oculus activity from Facebook. But starting in October, Facebook began breaking down the wall between the two software ecosystems. Now when you buy a new Oculus VR headsets, you must sign in with Facebook credentials.
Existing Oculus owners, meanwhile, have until Jan. 1 2023, to switch over to using a Facebook account or risk losing some device functionality, including access to certain games and apps.
In response to the Bundeskartellamt’s investigation, Facebook said: “While Oculus devices are not currently available for sale in Germany, we will cooperate fully with the Bundeskartellamt and are confident we can demonstrate that there is no basis to the investigation.”
The company also claims that requiring the Facebook login will benefit consumers by making it easier for users to find and connect with friends in VR. However, the Bundeskartellamt argues Facebook already has a dominant position in Germany’s social networking space, which it’s used to harvest people’s personal data without their consent. The German regulator is currently fighting a court battle to impose rules on Facebook over how it collects users' data in the country.