Thread by @FantaAlexx

Head of German anti-trust regulator Andreas Mundt warns we should not just worry about GAFA (Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook), but also about BAT - Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, soon to enter the European market. #dataprotection

In a neat pastiche of the looming power of data in competition, Mundt has European Data Protection Supervisor Giovanni Buttarelli looming over him via stream. Tellingly for EU policy-making, they are speaking in the Bavarian representation smack behind the EP. #TechPolicy

Mundt lays out the reformist case for addressing competition imbalances through data dominance by Google and Facebook. He talks about the Facebook case the German authorities were prosecuting on the merger with WhatsApp.

Mundt says that authorities need to achieve an internal divestiture and data silos within companies, which could be achieved easer rather than breaking them up, 'especially for small agencies in Bonn'.

Now on to convening the full panel of DATA PROTECTION AND COMPETITIVENESS IN THE DIGITAL AGE, a shindig organised by @EU_EDPS at the Bavarian castle. Quite high-profile attendance with Commission overlord Martin Selmayr, ICO's Elisabeth Denham, Ulrich Kelber and CNIL's head.

@CNIL's head Marie-Laure Denis urges more regulatory cooperation within Europe, not only between DPA's and competition authorities, but also human rights bodies and cyber-security agencies. Joint studies, staff exchanges and formal networks. Draw together expertise.

Martin Selmayr announces assesment of GDPR one year on, calling for an end to gold-plating. He jokes about German 'hysteria' about data protection. "We invent something, bring it to Brussels and then lament about it. We also do this even with Commission president candidates."

For the German speakers among you, I wrote a summary of last nights debate: netzpolitik.org/2019/europas-b…