TOKYO -- The Japanese government will keep a closer eye on foreign companies that work with big data, aiming to promote healthy competition and ensure that consumers and small businesses are not harmed by excessive concentration of information.
Plans are to set up an oversight body as early as 2020, based on recommendations in an expert panel's draft report. The watchdog will look at the practices of platform operators like Amazon.com and Google, identify problems, and recommend legislative and other solutions. The government aims to draw up a framework for the new body by next summer.
