E.U. Starts Investigation into Acquisition of Fitbit by Google

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As predicted, the European Union has opened and in-depth investigation into the proposed acquisition of Fitbit by Google.
The E.U. is concerned over the potential "data advantage," and whether rivals will have a disadvantage, especially because of Google's dominance in other sectors, such as search, online advertising, android OS, etc.

Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, responsible for competition policy, said: “The use of wearable devices by European consumers is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. This will go hand in hand with an exponential growth of data generated through these devices. This data provides key insights about the life and the health situation of the users of these devices. Our investigation aims to ensure that control by Google over data collected through wearable devices as a result of the transaction does not distort competition.”

[ec.europa.eu...]

Earlier story
E.U. May Investigate Google Takeover of Fitbit [webmasterworld.com]

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The E.U. approves the takeover following an investigation over concerns of how the data would be used.

Google has now promised:

not to use health, fitness and location data from Fitbit devices for advertising, for users in the European Economic Area

to store Fitbit data in a "silo", kept separate from any other data used for advertising

to maintain third-party access to the Fitbit platform

not to degrade the user experience of third-party smartwatches when paired with an Android phone

The commitments must be kept for 10 years.

[bbc.co.uk...]