Google’s $2.1 billion Fitbit acquisition is receiving nearer scrutiny from EU regulators

Antitrust regulators and client advocacy groups are growing their scrutiny of Google’s planned acquisition of exercise tracker firm Fitbit.

Google declared it was getting Fitbit final 12 months for $2.1 billion and stated it hoped to entire the offer some time in 2020. But it is feasible the acquisition will be delayed more than fears about the search giant’s increased accessibility to sensitive info from Fitbit’s hardware, together with users’ coronary heart charges, their physical fitness action, and their rest patterns.

The Fiscal Situations reviews that EU regulators have sent 60-web page questionnaires to Google and Fitbit’s rivals, inquiring them to assess how the acquisition will affect the electronic healthcare room irrespective of whether it will drawback exercise monitoring apps hosted in Google’s Enjoy Shop and how Google might use the details to profile users for its research and promotion business.

EU regulators have set a deadline of July 20th for their up coming final decision regarding the deal. The buying and selling bloc can pick out to approve the deal, or talk to for concessions from Google (pertaining to how Fitbit’s data is used, for instance), or open up a four-thirty day period investigation to completely examine problems. The FT states the stage of detail in the recent questionnaires despatched to the companies’ rivals suggests an extended investigation could be in the operates.

The EU isn’t the only social gathering apprehensive about the acquisition, either. Very last thirty day period, Australia’s Opposition and Purchaser Fee announced its have considerations. “Buying Fitbit will permit Google to construct an even far more extensive established of consumer information, additional cementing its situation and raising boundaries to entry to opportunity rivals,” said ACCC Chairman Rod Sims.

Fret from regulators has also been matched by customer advocacy teams. This week, 20 consumer groups, from the US, EU, Mexico, Canada, and Brazil, wrote to regulators saying the deal was a “test case” to see if they could correctly reign in information monopolies.

“Google could exploit Fitbit’s extremely beneficial well being and locale datasets, and facts assortment abilities, to fortify its now dominant placement in digital marketplaces this kind of as on-line advertising and marketing,” claimed the group, in accordance to a report from CNET. “Google could also use Fitbit’s data to establish a commanding position in digital and related wellbeing markets, depriving competition of the means to contend correctly.”

Google has built some concessions to allay these fears, saying very last 12 months that “Fitbit health and fitness and wellness info will not be made use of for Google advertisements.” In response to the letter from customer groups, the business claimed the deal is “about devices, not details,” including that the wearables house is “highly crowded” and that the acquisition of Fitbit will only improve levels of competition.

This line of argument is probably to prevent antitrust regulators from simply just blocking the deal, reviews Fortune, as Fitbit and Google are not direct rivals, and neither of them holds enough of the wearables sector to make the argument that the deal generates a monopoly.

“It would be terribly difficult to carry a case,” antitrust legal professional David Balto, who was coverage director at the FTC during Microsoft’s antitrust trials, advised Fortune. “There are no successful oppositions to vertical mergers like this.”

According to facts from analysts IDC, Fitbit experienced much less than 5 p.c of the wearables sector in 2019, while Apple, the largest participant, experienced 32 percent. The subsequent two major organizations, Xiaomi and Samsung, have 12 per cent and 9 percent sector share respectively. None of these firms use Google’s application in their wearable devices.

However, problems about details accessibility may be a lot more persuasive considering Google’s potent placement in on the net advertising, where by it controls 90 % of the market for some unique tools, like those people employed by publishers to market displays adverts. This is a sensitive place for Google at the minute, as the US Justice Section is nearing the close of its very own antitrust investigation from the business concerning alleged abuse of its promoting dominance.