European Union antitrust regulators revealed Tuesday they’ll introduce an examination into Google’s strategy to purchase Fitbit.Google, a U.S. tech giant owned by Alphabet, is intending to get into the wearable technology market, and intends to purchase Fitbit for$2.1 billion. Fitbit makes wearable watch-like fitness gadgets. A range of groups promoting for privacy and consumer rights want to block the deal due to the fact that of antitrust and privacy concerns.The EU and many other groups state they are concerned the offer will increase the amount of
information to which Google has gain access to, making it progressively hard for other business to complete effectively in the online marketing space.The EU’s executive commission mentioned”the proposed deal would further entrench Google’s market position in the online marketing markets by increasing the already vast amount of data that Google might utilize for customization of the ads it serves and shows.”EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager added that the”examination intends to guarantee that control by Google over information collected through
wearable gadgets as an outcome of the transaction does not distort competition. “Google’s senior vice president for gadgets and services, Rick Osterloh, countered that” this deal has to do with gadgets, not information,”
and he included that” we’ve been clear from the beginning that we will not utilize Fitbit health and health data for Google advertisements.” The EU antitrust enforcer said this pledge alone was not adequate.Fitbit was among the very first business to market wearable fitness devices, which are utilized to keep an eye on exercises, heart rates, sleep patterns, and a range of other aspects.
Fitbit has more than 28 million active users, and upwards of 100 million gadgets have been sold. Source