By Kelvin Chan
European Union regulators opened an in-depth investigation Tuesday into U.S. tech giant Google's plan to buy fitness tracking device maker Fitbit.
The EU's executive commission said it was concerned the deal would entrench Google's position in the online ad market by "increasing the already vast amount of data" the company uses to personalize ads.
"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," said European Commission Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, who also is the EU's competition commissioner.
Google agreed to buy Fitbit in November for $2.1 billion. Privacy and consumer groups have called on authorities to block the deal, citing privacy and antitrust concerns.
The EU said the deal could expand Google's "data advantage" and therefore raise barriers for rivals to match Google's online advertising services.
In an effort to allay the apprehension, Google offered to put all information collected from wearable devices into a virtual data silo. But the overture wasn't enough to satisfy the European Commission, which said the proposal wouldn't cover all the data Google could access as a result of the acquisition.
"This deal is about devices, not data," said Rick Osterloh, Google's senior vice president for devices and services. "We've been clear from the beginning that we will not use Fitbit health and wellness data for Google ads," he wrote in a blog post.
The investigation underscores the leading role EU authorities have taken in global efforts to regulate the big technology companies.
Vestager has been at the forefront of the movement to rein in the likes of Google and its Silicon Valley rivals. During her first five-year term as competition commissioner, she slapped Google with nearly $10 billion in penalties for multiple antitrust cases involving its Android operating system, advertising business, and shopping service.
Critics say big fines failed to change how tech giants behave and have called on regulators to take tougher action.
Google's plan to acquire Fitbit marked a bold plunge into health and fitness technology for the search behemoth as it tries to become a force in consumer hardware.
Fitbit pioneered wearable fitness technology, with devices that track activities such as running, cycling, and swimming and record heart rates and sleep patterns. The company has more than 28 million active users worldwide and has sold more than 100 million devices.
The EU commission has until Dec. 9 to make a decision. The regulators will also look into how Europe's digital healthcare sector would be affected by the Google acquisition, as well as whether the purchase would give the company the ability and incentive to make it harder for wearable devices developed by rivals to work with Android.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
Ford is recalling more than 355,000 of its pickup trucks across the U.S. because of an instrument panel display failure that’s resulted in critical information, like warning lights and vehicle speed, not showing up on the dashboard.
Nvidia reported a 56% increase in second-quarter revenue and a 59% rise in net income compared to a year ago.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos claims audiences don't want to watch Netflix movies in theaters, but that seems not to be the case recently.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
