Breaking News

SAMA Launches Exclusive Amazon Prime Day Deals on Flagship PC Cases and AIO Cooler Lineup Transcend Launches Ultra-Fast PCIe Gen5 SSD MTE260S Power Your World with DJI's New Portable Power Station Power 2000 G.SKILL CAMM2 DDR5 Memory Module Demonstrates DDR5-10000 Overclock Speed on ASUS Z890 Motherboard JCB Phone Launches New Rugged Smartphone Range to Power Global Expansion

logo

  • Share Us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
  • Home
  • Home
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Essays
  • Forum
  • Legacy
  • About
    • Submit News

    • Contact Us
    • Privacy

    • Promotion
    • Advertise

    • RSS Feed
    • Site Map

Search form

Consumer Group Concerned About Google-Fitbit Deal

Consumer Group Concerned About Google-Fitbit Deal

Gadgets May 13,2020 0

The European Comsumer Organization BEUC says that Google’s takeover of fitness tracker Fitbit could be “a game-changer” for health data that will need close European Union scrutiny.

BEUC is concerned that Google’s proposed acquisition of Fitbit may be "detrimental to consumers as a result of its impact on competition in a number of markets."

BEUC, which represents consumer associations across Europe, said:

"We have seen in the past how strategic mergers in digital markets have led to unprecedented market power for a handful of tech giants, who have expanded thispower into ever growing areas of consumers’ lives in particular through the amassing of gigantic volumes of data and data analytics capacity. If Google acquires consumers’ data generated by the use of Fitbit wearables, including now COVID-19 related data, it would be able to use that data for itsown benefit and could undermine the ability of other companies to bring new products to consumers. This could harm innovation and consumer choice in several markets such as online advertising, search, health and wearables. The proposed merger therefore has the potential to touch not only digital markets but also a vital part of all European citizens’ lives, their health and well-being."

BEUC says that acquiring Fitbit, with its smartwatch functionalities, apps, exceptionally valuable health and location datasets and data collection capability, would be likely to further strengthen Google’s dominance in online advertising, search and other digital markets and place it in an unassailable position in digital health and wearables markets.

BEUC requests the European Commission to consider the impact on competition and innovation of Google acquiring Fitbit’s data and data collection capabilities across all relevant horizontal and non-horizontal markets, given Google’s already unparalleled market power across several digital markets;

The organization also asks EC to consider whether the acquisition will result in less consumer choice (including degrading data privacy options).

Google’s plan to buy Fitbit is running into a wall of antitrust and privacy concerns in the U.S., Europe and Australia, where competition officials are increasingly wary of how internet giants can exert control over data. The deal advances the plans of Google parent Alphabet Inc. to expand in the health-care sector by adding data from Fitbit’s more than 28 million users.

Google has previously said it plans “to work constructively with regulators to answer their questions” about the deal and won’t sell personal information to anyone.

“Fitbit health and wellness data will not be used for Google ads. And we will give Fitbit users the choice to review, move, or delete their data,” the company said.

Tags: FitbitGoogle
Previous Post
FBI and CISA Warn Against Chinese Targeting of COVID-19 Research Organizations
Next Post
Dell Releases new XPS 17 laptop, Alienware Gaming Systems, and Data Migration Services

Related Posts

  • Elevate your gameplay across mobile and PC

  • What’s new in Android 15, plus more updates

  • NVIDIA Teams Up With Google DeepMind to Drive Large Language Model Innovation

  • Google at CES 2024

  • Google introduces Gemini AI model

  • Google Cloud Launches AI-Powered Anti Money Laundering Product for Financial Institutions

  • Connecting all things Android at MWC Barcelona

  • Mercedes-Benz and Google Join Forces to Create Next-Generation Navigation Experience

Latest News

SAMA Launches Exclusive Amazon Prime Day Deals on Flagship PC Cases and AIO Cooler Lineup
Cooling Systems

SAMA Launches Exclusive Amazon Prime Day Deals on Flagship PC Cases and AIO Cooler Lineup

Transcend Launches Ultra-Fast PCIe Gen5 SSD MTE260S
PC components

Transcend Launches Ultra-Fast PCIe Gen5 SSD MTE260S

Power Your World with DJI's New Portable Power Station Power 2000
Consumer Electronics

Power Your World with DJI's New Portable Power Station Power 2000

G.SKILL CAMM2 DDR5 Memory Module Demonstrates DDR5-10000 Overclock Speed on ASUS Z890 Motherboard
PC components

G.SKILL CAMM2 DDR5 Memory Module Demonstrates DDR5-10000 Overclock Speed on ASUS Z890 Motherboard

JCB Phone Launches New Rugged Smartphone Range to Power Global Expansion
Smartphones

JCB Phone Launches New Rugged Smartphone Range to Power Global Expansion

Popular Reviews

be quiet! Light Loop 360mm

be quiet! Light Loop 360mm

be quiet! Dark Mount Keyboard

be quiet! Dark Mount Keyboard

Arctic Liquid Freezer III 420 - 360

Arctic Liquid Freezer III 420 - 360

be quiet! Light Mount Keyboard

be quiet! Light Mount Keyboard

Soundpeats Pop Clip

Soundpeats Pop Clip

Noctua NH-D15 G2

Noctua NH-D15 G2

Crucial T705 2TB NVME White

Crucial T705 2TB NVME White

be quiet! Light Base 600 LX

be quiet! Light Base 600 LX

Main menu

  • Home
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Essays
  • Forum
  • Legacy
  • About
    • Submit News

    • Contact Us
    • Privacy

    • Promotion
    • Advertise

    • RSS Feed
    • Site Map
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Promotional Opportunities @ CdrInfo.com
  • Advertise on out site
  • Submit your News to our site
  • RSS Feed