BERLIN - Germany's cartel office said it was launching proceedings against Google Germany and parent company Alphabet Inc on Tuesday to examine possible anti-competitive restrictions imposed by the Google Maps platform.

"We have information to suggest that Google may be restricting the combination of its own map services with third-party map services," said Andreas Mundt, president of the Bundeskartellamt.

The regulator is looking into whether this "could allow Google to further expand its position of power regarding certain map services", he added.

  - Reuters