Published 04:59 IST, July 4th 2020
Google's Fitbit acquisition in massive $2.1 billion deal under European Union probe
European Union regulators are investigating the long-term implications of Google acquiring health and fitness monitoring technology Fitbit.
European Union regulators are investigating the long-term implications of Google acquiring health and fitness monitoring technology Fitbit. The European group of nations is also researching if the acquisition will allow the tech giant to drive rival manufactures of wearable devices, app developers, and other online service providers out of business.
EU wary of Google's growing dominance
As per reports, EU regulators are concerned that that the entirety of Fitbit’s data about its users -- such as health status, location, heart rate and calorie burned -- will expand the Alphabet Inc owned tech giant's market dominance and monopoly. According to reports, the European Commission will come to a decision on Google’s acquisition of Fitbit by July 20.
Meanwhile, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) too has been wary of the deal and has launched its own investigation as per international media reports. Much like the EU regulators, the ACCC is concerned about the long term affects this deal could have on digital marketing and health markets.
Fitbit had announced the deal back in November last year and revealed that Google would be acquiring it for a huge sum of $2.1 billion. Many non-governmental privacy groups are also against the move.
ACCC chair Rod Sims has claimed that Fitbit has been gathering user’s health data for almost a decade now and that this deal will allow Google to get a more comprehensive set of user data, as reported. As per ACCC, Google’s monopoly lies in its vast search and location data as well as the background data it has collected through third-party apps.
(Image Credits - AP)
Updated 04:59 IST, July 4th 2020