{"id":45214,"date":"2020-07-02T10:41:41","date_gmt":"2020-07-02T10:41:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mobileworldlive.com\/?p=286248"},"modified":"2020-07-02T10:41:41","modified_gmt":"2020-07-02T10:41:41","slug":"consumer-watchdogs-warn-on-google-fitbit-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/2020\/07\/02\/consumer-watchdogs-warn-on-google-fitbit-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumer watchdogs warn on Google, Fitbit deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\tA group of 20 consumer interest organisations covering Europe, Australia, the US, Canada and Latin America urged regulators to thoroughly scrutinise Google\u2019s proposed buy of Fitbit, warning it could increase the acquirer’s already immense power.<\/p>\n

In a joint statement, the groups said there were \u201cserious concerns\u201d around the potential for the exploitation of data collected by Fitbit to strengthen Google’s already dominant position in various digital sectors.<\/p>\n

They also highlighted risks to consumer welfare, data privacy and competition in the digital health markets.<\/p>\n

The statement was signed by a range of groups including The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), Australian Privacy Foundation, Consumer Federation of America, Brazilian Institute of Consumer Defense and Mexican group Red en Defensa de los Derechos Digitales.<\/p>\n

\u201cWearable devices could replace smartphones as the main gateway to the internet, just as smartphones replaced personal computers. Google\u2019s expansion into this market, edging out other competitors would thus be significant,\u201d the bodies noted. \u201cWearables like Fitbit\u2019s could in future give companies details of essentially everything consumers do 24\/7 and allow them to feed digital services back to consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trial
\nThough stopping short of calling for regulators to block the deal outright, the statement urged careful analysis on the implications for consumers and consideration of the \u201cpotential for far reaching and dynamic effects on digital and health markets\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will be a test case for how regulators address the immense power the tech giants exert over the digital economy and their ability to expand their ecosystems unchecked,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

The statement comes as the European Commission continues to probe the $2.1 billion deal [1] alongside regulators in various other markets including the US [2] and Australia.<\/p>\n

Google announced the acquisition [3] subject to approvals in November 2019.<\/p>\n

In statements at the time, Fitbit was adamant its health and wellness data would not be used for Google advertisements following completion.<\/p>\n

[1] https:\/\/www.mobileworldlive.com\/devices\/news-devices\/google-seeks-ec-approval-for-fitbit-purchase\/
\n[2] https:\/\/www.mobileworldlive.com\/devices\/news-devices\/doj-to-rule-on-google-move-for-fitbit\/
\n[3] https:\/\/www.mobileworldlive.com\/featured-content\/top-three\/google-boosts-wearables-play-with-2-1b-fitbit-buy\/<\/p>\n\n

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A group of 20 consumer interest organisations covering Europe, Australia, the US, Canada and Latin …<\/p>\n

The post Consumer watchdogs warn on Google, Fitbit deal<\/a> appeared first on Mobile World Live<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":246,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"Consumer watchdogs warn on Google, Fitbit deal - ITTeacherITFreelance.hk","description":"A group of 20 consumer interest organisations covering Europe, Australia, the US, Canada and Latin ... The post Consumer watchdogs warn on Google, Fitbit deal a"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,8,21,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45214"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/246"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45214"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45215,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45214\/revisions\/45215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}