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17th December 2020: Alphabet's Google won EU antitrust approval on December 17 for its $2.1 billion bid for Fitbit after agreeing on restrictions on how it will use customers' health-related data. The deal had triggered criticism from privacy advocates on both sides of the Atlantic, consumer organisations and Google rivals about the company's market power and the use of people's health data in targeted advertising. Fitbit, once the leader in the wearable devices market, has lost market share to Apple, Xiaomi, Samsung and Huawei in recent years. The European Commission said it had agreed concessions with Google, valid for 10 years with the possibility of another 10-year extension, addressing competition concerns, confirming a Reuters story in October. Google will store Fitbit us...

AFP, SAN FRANCISCO: Google chief executive Sundar Pichai will meet next week in Brussels with the European Union's competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, a source familiar with the matter said Saturday. European competition officials have been investigating the US tech giant for years over alleged monopolistic practices involving its search engines, but any resolution has been elusive. Three successive proposals by Google for an amicable settlement have been rejected. Vestager last year sent a "statement of objections," saying Google had diverted traffic from rival price-comparison services like Kelkoo, which operates in several European countries, to favor its own comparison shopping service. Google responded in late August that Brussels's findings were "wrong," and bas...

Tag: antitrust

Google wins EU antitrust nod for $2.1 billion Fitbit deal

Google CEO Sundar Pichai Heading to Brussels For Antitrust Talks: Source