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After Google's Fitbit deal, EU says worrying when firms targeted for their data

Vestager declined to comment on the deal specifically but said there was general unease among regulators when data-heavy companies are the targets of bids.

She added that regulators then considered the questions of, does this create a barrier to entry, will this make it more difficult to innovate and does a risk to privacy issues arise from that kind of data coming together.

Vestager has in the last two years handed down more than 8 billion euros in fines to Google for stifling competitors in three separate cases involving its price comparison shopping product, its Android smartphone operating system and in search advertising brokering.

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Author: Foo Yun Chee

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Foo Yun Chee has recently written 10 articles on similar topics including :
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  7. "EU antitrust enforcers are asking interested parties whether Google's pledge not to use fitness tracker maker Fitbit's health data for its advertising, and to separate the dataset from its own, might ease concerns over their tie up". (July 15, 2020)
  8. "Alphabet unit Google and digital advertising firms were hit with fresh privacy complaints to national watchdogs in six EU countries on Thursday over the way they sell ads to potential advertisers through a bidding process". (December 10, 2020)
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