The European Commission has announced that it’s launching a full investigation into Google’s acquisition of Fitbit.
The European Commission (EC) has launched a full investigation into Google’s $2.1 billion acquisition of Fitbit over concerns it could damage competition in the online advertising market. The competition watchdog said in a press release that it feared the takeover would further entrench Google’s market position in the online advertising markets by increasing the already vast amount of data that the tech giant could use for personalised ads. The EC said that “data collected via wrist-worn wearable devices appears, at this stage of the Commission’s review of the transaction, to be an important advantage in the online advertising markets”, adding that this would make it more difficult for rivals to compete against Google’s online advertising service. “Thus, the transaction would raise barriers to entry and expansion for Google’s competitors for these services, to the ultimate detriment of advertisers and publishers that would face higher prices and have less choice,” the regulator said.
