On Thursday Alphabet, the company that controls Google, received the authorization of the European Commission for the acquisition, for 2.1 billion dollars (about 1.8 billion euros), of Fitbit, the smartwatch manufacturer, specialized above all in devices that detect physical activity. The clearance for the acquisition came after Alphabet agreed with the Commission on certain restrictions on the use of customer health data.
In November 2019, Alphabet announced that it would buy the smartwatch manufacturer, but last August the European Commission launched an investigation to examine the proposal. Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition, explained that the use of devices such as smartwatches in the coming years would be increasingly widespread, and therefore not only the amount of data accumulated by the devices, but also, consequently, the news would increase. on the lifestyle and state of health of those who use them. Vestager therefore said that the European Commission's investigation aimed to “ensure that Google's management of the data collected through mobile devices following the acquisition does not disturb market competitiveness”.
The European Commission had emphasized that with the acquisition of Fitbit by Alphabet, Google would have had a dominant position on the market, to the detriment of its competitors: Google, in fact, would not only have sold its own product and related services on its own platform. search, but could have used the data collected from mobile devices to analyze user habits and place personalized advertisements.
The European Commission, after the approval of the agreement, declared that it has agreed with Google rules to limit it to take advantage of its dominant position on the market, which will be in force for 10 years with the possibility of a further renewal for another 10. Google will store Fitbit user data separately from Google data used for advertising and will not use data from Fitbit and other wearable devices for Google Ads, the software that allows you to insert advertising spaces within Google search pages. Users can decide whether to store their health data on their Google or Fitbit account.
