After some back and forth, nothing stands in the way of the release of the VR glasses Meta Quest 2 in Germany. The newer Quest Pro should also be on the market as soon as possible. The Bundeskartellamt cites the US company giving in to data protection concerns as the reason.
The fact that the VR glasses are now coming onto the German market is due to the lifting of an earlier Facebook profile requirement. After the Facebook group was renamed Meta, the company also introduced separate accounts for the VR glasses. As the Federal Cartel Office announced in a press release, this was a reaction to a competitive procedure that has been running since 2020.
Antitrust proceedings over Facebook’s VR glasses
The cause of the two-year dispute was the takeover of the VR glasses manufacturer Oculus by Facebook. The purchase in 2014 is said to have cost around 2 billion US dollars. In 2020, the Cartel Office warned that Facebook would abuse the market due to data protection violations if Facebook profiles and VR glasses were to be linked. There is also no good reason why the VR glasses should require a social network account.
In this matter, there were increasing allegations by data protection officers that there were violations of the data protection regulations of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). The Federal Court of Justice also saw it that way, which is why a ban on the corresponding b glasses was in the room for a long time. After the court had confirmed the allegation of a dominant position in summary proceedings, Facebook reacted. The group stopped selling Oculus VR glasses in Germany.
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After the name change to Meta in 2021, Oculus also got a new name with Meta Quest. Meta now used this new beginning to settle the old Facebook-Oculus conflict. The use of the new VR glasses Quest 2 and Quest Pro is therefore possible without connecting to a Facebook or Instagram account. According to the Federal Cartel Office, it must be possible to put the glasses into operation in such a way that the consumer is not forced to use a meta-service. Every owner of VR glasses from the Meta Group should decide for themselves whether they prefer to use a separate account. The corresponding adjustments to the user dialogs should be made before the market launch.
Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt, explained:
“Meta also has a significant position in the growing VR market. If only Facebook or Instagram members could use the VR glasses, this could severely hamper competition in both areas.“
Federal Cartel Office report from 23.11.22.
The cartel office’s old Facebook Oculus procedure is not yet over. Because it is also about how the different data of the meta services can be connected in the future. According to Mundt, the “design of user options” must also be further supported. The cartel office is in contact with Meta, also because the procedure for data processing by Facebook is currently still pending at the European Court of Justice.