Big Tech’s Data Control Faces Antitrust Scrutiny at FTC

U.S. antitrust regulators plan to ramp up their scrutiny of tech companies’ data practices, acknowledging rising concerns that consumer information can increase market power.

The Federal Trade Commission’s new task force that will monitor tech industry competition, announced Feb. 26, plans to incorporate data collection and privacy as main variables in its oversight of companies, Bruce Hoffman, the head of the agency’s competition bureau, said in a call with reporters.

Hoffman’s bureau oversees merger reviews and competition concerns. But as part of the task force’s new mandate, the bureau will work closely with the FTC’s consumer protection bureau, which regulates ...