Facebook-Jio deal under competition panel’s review to prevent data misuse

India’s antitrust watchdog is reviewing Facebook Inc.’s purchase of a 10% stake in Reliance Industries Ltd.’s digital assets, a deal that would give the US giant another foothold in one of the world’s fastest growing internet markets.

The Competition Commission of India looks to prevent misuse of data in all the deals it assesses, chairman Ashok Kumar Gupta said in an email interview, declining to comment further on the Facebook-Jio transaction pending examination. The regulator is also considering whether new parameters should be included in its assessment criteria; currently some mergers and acquisitions escape the threshold for scrutiny even if potential harm is evident, Gupta said.

Peculiarities such as “strong network effects, high returns to scale and access to a huge amount of data” may incentivize digital firms to engage in anti-competitive conduct, Gupta said, without referring to any particular case.