WASHINGTON - Federal regulators are looking into the interactions between Twitter and a company called Ubermedia, which develops applications that allow users to follow and communicate with one another on Twitter’s popular online messaging service, according to two published reports.
The Federal Trade Commission inquiry is still at a preliminary stage and the focus remains unclear, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. The Business Insider blog, which first reported the inquiry, said FTC antitrust investigators are studying how Twitter deals with outside companies that build applications for its messaging platform - such as photo-sharing and ad services - and whether it is trying to bring more of those services in house by buying or banning outside developers.
The FTC and Twitter declined comment. Ubermedia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
