Google obtained approval from the European Commission to acquire Fitbit Inc., after satisfying concerns about how the advertising giant would make use of health data obtained through the deal.
Among the concessions, Google has agreed not to use Fitbit data, including GPS and health data, gathered from any user in the European Economic Area (EEA) for targeted advertising.
Google also has to maintain a technical separation between its business and that of Fitbit’s and to give EEA Fitbit users the option to approve or deny the use of Fitness health data to inform other Google services like its search engine and Google Maps product. The approval of the deal also stipulates that Google maintain commitments related to Fitbit’s Web API and its own Android API that foster competition. These commitments will be in place for 10 years.
“We can approve the proposed acquisition of Fitbit by Google because the commitments will ensure that the market for wearables and the nascent digital health space will remain open and competitive,” said Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission executive vice president, in a statement. “The commitments will determine how Google can use the data collected for ad purposes, how interoperability between competing wearables and Android will be safeguarded and how users can continue to share health and fitness data, if they choose to.”
To ensure the companies’ compliance with these commitments, a trustee will be appointed prior to the transaction’s close to monitor Google’s implementations and will have access to a range of internal records, personnel and other assets.
Europe’s approval of the deal comes after a months-long probe into whether it could “further entrench” Google’s market position in the online advertising business if it uses Fitbit data to help personalize the ads it shows users. Officially launched in August, the European Commission’s in-depth investigation involved the collection of “extensive information and feedback from competitors of the merging companies” as well as worldwide competition authorities and the European Data Protection Board, the regulator said.
Similar to the impact of the E.U.’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) from 2018, several of these agreements with the European regulator will likely have some impact on consumers outside of the region as well.
U.S. regulators continue to scrutinize the deal while the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced a few weeks ago that it had also begun seeking feedback on the deal and loosely floated three data and interoperability requirements of its own.
Photo courtesy Fitbit
