- General
- July 3, 2020
- 4 minutes read
Privacy Groups Critic Google’s Fitbit Buy
Fitbit CEO James Park. Photo credit: Stuart Isett/Fortune Brainstorm Tech, under Creative Commons license A coalition of nearly two-dozen privacy…
Fitbit CEO James Park.
Photo credit: Stuart Isett/Fortune Brainstorm Tech, under Creative Commons license
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A coalition of nearly two-dozen privacy groups have raised concerns over Google’s impending purchase of smartwatch and fitness tracker maker Fitbit and did so by sending statements to antitrust authorities in seven jurisdictions, including the U.S. and the European Union, that calls for more scrutiny of the deal. Regulatory authorities in the U.S. and the European Union are set to make a final decision on the intended acquisition later this month but with the option of extending their review.
“This 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,” the joint statement sent by the groups said.
Google reached a deal to acquire Fitbit in November of last year. The search giant is coughing up $2.1 billion for publicly-traded Fitbit, which reportedly began shopping itself for sale early last year. Currently, about 30 million users use Fitbit hardware, such a large user base being a potential digital health data drove for an ever data-mining Google. Google’s deal to acquire Fitbit has already drawn scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and several U.S. consumer groups.
Among the privacy groups calling for renewed scrutiny of the deal includes the Open Society European Policy Institute, the Australian Privacy Foundation, and the Omidyar Network. The joint statement issued by the groups, totaling 20 in number, were sent to regulatory bodies across the US, UK, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and the European Union.