German regulators launch new probe into Oculus VR headsets

Latest glasses require a Facebook account

BERLIN—German regulators launched an investigation Thursday into Facebook over the company’s decision to link its Oculus virtual reality products to the social network, authorities said.

The Federal Cartel Office, or Bundeskartellamt, said it had initiated abuse proceedings over Facebook’s plans to require users of the latest Quest 2 virtual reality glasses produced by Oculus to register with a Facebook.com account.

“Linking virtual reality products and the group’s social network in this way could constitute a prohibited abuse of dominance by Facebook,” said Bundeskartellamt president Andreas Mundt.

“With its social network Facebook holds a dominant position in Germany and is also already an important player in the emerging but growing VR market. We intend to examine whether and to what extent this tying arrangement will affect competition in both areas of activity.”

In response to a request for comment from The Associated Press, Facebook noted that it had already paused sales of its Oculus products in Germany this year. It has not detailed why it made the move, but said it was not related to the investigation launched Thursday.

“While Oculus devices are not currently available for sale in Germany, we will co-operate fully with the Bundeskartellamt and are confident we can demonstrate that there is no basis to the investigation,” Facebook said.

Facebook announced earlier this year that all Quest 2 users would require a Facebook login with the device, and that users of other Oculus products could merge their account or continue using the Oculus account until January 2023.

The company, which acquired Oculus in 2014, also rebranded Oculus Connect as Facebook Connect and changed the name of its virtual reality team from Oculus Research to Facebook Reality Labs.

Last year, the Bundeskartellamt determined Facebook was exploiting its dominance in social media to better target ads.