Investigators from the European Union Commission have raided the offices of billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox UK offices and have seized computers and other documents.
The exact nature of the investigation is currently unknown, as is the reason behind the raid, which took place on Tuesday evening in the Hammersmith offices of 21st Century Fox the Telegraph reports.
According to sources within the building who spoke to the Telegraph, the EU Commission investigators told employees working in the office to not talk about the raid and that the investigators will likely continue to gather more evidence and information over the next day or two.
While no official announcement of the investigation has been made, some have speculated that the incident may tie into the recent attempt of Murdoch and Fox to acquire Sky News in the UK. The EU investigators have the ability to conduct raids if they believe that a corporation may be engaged in price fixing or abusing their dominant position within the market.
The raid comes only months after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ruled that 21st Century Fox’s attempt to acquire Sky was “not in the public interest.”
“Media plurality goes to the heart of our democratic process. It is very important that no group or individual should have too much control of our news media or too much power to affect the political agenda,” said Anne Lambert, Chair of the CMA’s independent investigation Group following the ruling.
“We have provisionally found that if the Fox/Sky merger went ahead as proposed, it would be against the public interest. It would result in the Murdoch family having too much control over news providers in the UK, and too much influence over public opinion and the political agenda,” Lambert added.
The attempted acquisition is not the only controversial proposed media takeover this year. Many expressed concerns after the far-left Trinity Mirror group announced it would be acquiring the traditionally right-wing Express newspaper.