German regulators are investigating Facebook for its controversial Oculus account rules

Germany’s competition watchdog is investigating Facebook for tying its social app to its Oculus virtual reality headsets. Today, the Bundeskartellamt or Federal Cartel Office (FCO) announced a probe of the increasingly close link between Facebook and Oculus, arguing that it could hurt competition in both VR and social networking.

The new Oculus Quest 2 headset requires signing in with a Facebook account rather than a separate Oculus ID, and that’s raised antitrust concerns. “Linking virtual reality products and the group’s social network in this way could constitute a prohibited abuse of dominance by Facebook,” said FCO president Andreas Mundt. Mundt noted that Facebook is a dominant social network in Germany and plays a large role in...

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