Google and Apple face extra UK scrutiny over strategic role in mobile platforms

LONDON — Britain’s antitrust watchdog on Wednesday targeted Google and Apple for their “strategic” roles in mobile ecosystems, opening the door for regulators to impose changes to their business practices to improve competition.

The Competition and Markets Authority escalated scrutiny of the two U.S. tech companies by labeling them with “strategic market status.” It follows separate investigations that the CMA opened at the start of the year into Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS using newly acquired digital market regulations designed…