The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched a new Digital Markets Unit (DMU) to tackle online competition.

The unit has launched in “shadow non-statutory form” ahead of legislation granting its full powers.

Whilst the DMU has been founded to look at all online platforms including the likes of Apple and Google, its powers will also extend to digital financial services businesses.

The DMU will work with other regulators, including the Financial Conduct Authority, to tackle digital competition.

The CMA said that online platforms can bring huge benefits but there is “a consensus that the concentration of power among a small number of firms is curtailing growth and having negative impacts on consumers and businesses which rely on them".

The UK government announced plans to form the new unit in November 2020 to enforce a new pro-competition regime to cover all online platforms with considerable market power.

The government has asked the DMU to begin looking at how codes of conduct could work in practice to govern the relationship between digital platforms and groups such as small businesses which rely on them to advertise or use their services to reach their customers. It will take a sector neutral approach in examining the role of platforms across a range of digital markets, with a view to promoting competition.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “The UK has built an enviable reputation as a global tech hub and we want that to continue – but I’m clear that the system needs to be fair for our smaller businesses, new entrepreneurs and the wider British public.

“Our new, unashamedly pro-competition regime will help to curb the dominance of tech giants, unleash a wave of innovation throughout the market and ensure smaller firms aren’t pushed out.”

The DMU will be led by Will Hayter, who takes over following his work at the Cabinet Office supporting the UK’s transition out of the EU.