(Reuters) – Alphabet’s Google offered not to use health data from fitness tracker company Fitbit to help it target ads in an attempt to address EU antitrust concerns about its $ 2.1 billion takeover proposal, The American technology company said Monday night.
The offering, announced in November last year, would help Google take on market leader Apple and Samsung in the fitness and smartwatch tracking market, along with others, including Huawei and Xiaomi.
“This deal is about devices, not data. We appreciate the opportunity to work with the European Commission on an approach that safeguards consumers’ expectations that data from the Fitbit device will not be used for advertising, “Google said in a statement emailed to Reuters.
Reuters reported last week that such a data compromise could likely help Google gain EU approval for the deal.
With just 3% of the global handheld market as of the first quarter of 2020, Fitbit lags well behind Apple’s 29.3% share and also follows Xiaomi, Samsung and Huawei, according to data from the firm of market research International Data Corp.
While the deal has drawn strong criticism from privacy advocates on both sides of the Atlantic, due to concerns that Google may use Fitbit’s health data treasure to increase its dominance in advertising and search on Online, privacy concerns are not subject to competition rules.
The European Commission is expected to seek comment from its rivals and users before deciding whether to approve the deal, demand further concessions, or start a four-month investigation if it has serious concerns.
(Foo Yun Chee Reports; Sandra Maler and Leslie Adler edition)
