The EU announced Thursday that it will allow Google to proceed with its purchase of Fitbit. It followed a commitment from the search giant that it will not incorporate health and wellness data from the devices into its ad network. It will also separate such information into a ‘data silo’.
Google Answers EU Concerns Over Fitbit Purchase
As well as advertising, the EU Commission, the bloc’s executive body, had been investigating the consequences of Google’s acquisition of Fitbit on the wearables market, for instance, if they became reliant on a user having an Android device. There were also concerns that access to the Web API used by Fitbit could become limited, damaging digital healthcare start-ups.
Commenting on the decision, EU Commission Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, who leads on competition policy, said:
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. 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.