Google’s plan to buy Fitbit comes under lens of EU competition commissioner

Brussels: The European Commission launched an “in-depth investigation” on Tuesday into whether US tech giant Google’s planned $2.1 billion purchase of smartwatch maker Fitbit would give it an unfair market advantage.

“Our investigation aims to ensure that control by Google over data collected through wearable devices as a result of the transaction does not distort competition,” EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said.

In November last year Google announced it had reached agreement to buy Fitbit, which produces wearable fitness trackers and watches that communicate with a health monitoring app.

But Google also produces an operating system for smartwatches and Brussels is concerned that acquiring Fitbit’s user data will strengthen its already powerful position in targeted advertising.