In yet another major deal, Google has officially acquired Fitbit for $2.1 billion.
Finalizing the deal was put on hold while the European Commission performed a thorough investigation to make sure Google wouldn’t be using health data to personalize ads. The commission was largely concerned that using health data would give Google an unfair advantage over its competitors for online advertising.
Google responded to concerns by asserting that health data from Fitbit devices would not be used to personalize advertisements. Health data, Google stated, would be stored separately from the data used for advertisements.
Although Google made these promises publicly, it wasn’t enough for EU regulators. According to the commission, the data Google promised to silo “did not cover all the data that Google would access as a result of the transaction and would be valuable for advertising purposes.”
Conceding to several major concerns from the EU, Google agreed not to use any Fitbit data for advertising purposes ? including GPS data ? from users in the European Economic Area (EEA). Other agreements between Google and EU regulators include maintaining a technical separation between Google and Fitbit and to allow EEA users the ability to determine how their health data can be used across other Google services.
Satisfied that the additional agreements will keep user data private and keep the wearable tech market competitive, the investigation was concluded. The acquisition was officially completed in 2020.
Fitbit isn’t the first tech company acquired by Google and it won’t be the last. Google’s entire business model centers on data. Any tech company that has the potential to collect data is going to be on Google’s radar.
Google has been dominating the tech space for years
Decades after its inception as a search engine, Google continues to earn its reputation as a tech giant. For years, Google has been acquiring smaller tech companies that have huge potential to change the world. If you pay close attention, those companies also have a huge potential to collect data ? lots and lots of data.
Under the umbrella of its parent company, Alphabet Inc., Google has acquired tech companies in a variety of industries including machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), and business software.
If Google isn’t acquiring software that dominates the market, they’re building software that dominates the market. For example, Google’s Workspace has become the leading team collaboration suite on the market.
Google is so popular that when software developers provide integrations for Google Workspace, their software quickly becomes the leading software in their industry. For instance, Happeo is considered one of the top intranet software options on the market thanks to seamless integrations with Google Workspace.
When data is involved, no tech industry is off-limits for Google
Although Google leans toward dominating the tech industry from all angles, the company is continually focused on acquiring more and more data to use for personalized ads. After all, advertising is big money and targeted ads bring in the most money.
Based on past acquisitions, it should be no surprise that Google bought Fitbit. Google seeks to acquire tech companies that have access to new types of user data. Health data is relatively new, as wearable devices are just reaching peak popularity.
Although Google isn’t allowed to use health data for advertising purposes, it’s likely the data is being collected and processed for analysis.
Even though Google has promised not to use Fitbit data for advertising purposes, the fact that the data is being collected and saved at all is concerning for many.
The agreements made between Google and the EU regulators are in place for ten years. That means Google can collect health data from millions of users for the next ten years, as long as they don’t use it for advertising purposes. Why save it at all if they can’t use it? Do they have future plans?
What will happen at the ten year mark? What kind of insights can Google glean from ten years of data they can’t use for advertising? And does Google need to actually use the data to benefit?
These are some critical questions we don’t yet have answers for.
What about data privacy for the rest of the world?
Google has promised not to use health data collected from European users, but what about the rest of the world? According to the Wall Street Journal, the deal is still under investigation by the United States Justice Department, as well as Australia’s competition authority.
For now, it’s unclear whether or not Google will be able to use health data collected from Fitbit users in the U.S. and Australia; those investigations are still underway. However, European citizens have nothing to worry about? at least for now.
