The U.K. will launch a regulator Wednesday to ensure that companies such as Google LLC and Facebook Inc. don’t take advantage of their dominant positions in their respective markets.

The regulator, called the Digital Markets Unit, was announced last year but today it will go into action, with limitations on what it can do. Until legislation is put in place by Parliament, it will not be able to issue fines. However, it will scrutinize tech firms for any practices it deems unfair.

“The Digital Markets Unit has launched and I’ve asked it to begin by looking at the relationships between platforms and content providers, and platforms and digital advertisers,” Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden (pictured) said in a statement. “This will pave the way for the development of new digital services and lower prices, give consumers more choice and control over their data, and support our news industry, which is vital to freedom of expression and our democratic values.”

The new unit is part of the existing Competition and Markets Authority. After it was concluded that Google had too much dominance in the search and online advertising markets and Facebook had almost monopolized the social media market, the Digital Markets Unit was introduced as a watchdog.

One of the first things it is tasked with doing is looking at how a new code could be introduced that will ensure that Google and Facebook have “fair and reasonable” relationships with content providers such as news publishers. This comes just after both Facebook and Google made arrangements with the Australian over the sharing of news content.

Dowden said that once the regulator has found its feet, it will coordinate with other governments on the matter of how content is used by platforms. In April, he will meet with other digital and tech ministers to discuss the issue.

“The government has also today published an outline of the new unit’s function and role for its first year of operation,” said Dowden. “It includes working alongside business, the government and academia to compile the necessary evidence, knowledge and expertise so that once the new pro-competition regulatory regime is in place it can begin operation as quickly as possible.”

Photo: Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport/Flickr