Google still under the scrutiny of the Antitrust: investigation started for unfair commercial practices

Google and its parent company AND they ended up in the crosshairs ofAntitrust who decided to open an investigation for business practices incorrect. In particular, attention is focused on the ways in which the company obtains and manages the consent of users to connect their services and use theirs personal data. It’s another episode of the same old story: data, data collection and consensus that aren’t always clear.

At the moment, Google has not released any official statements. However, it is likely that the company will respond to the accusations made by the Antitrust, defending its practices and providing clarifications on how it manages users’ personal data.

Antitrust opens investigation into Google: here’s why

According to the Authority, the consent requests sent by Google to users may not be sufficiently informative or clear regarding the actual effects of consent on the use of personal data. This raises questions about users’ ability to fully understand how their data is used and combined across the various services offered by Google.

The Antitrust underlines that the practices for submitting requests for consent and the design of the mechanisms for collecting consent itself could affect the freedom of choice of the average consumer. This could lead consumers to make business decisions they might not have made otherwise, such as consenting to“combined” and “cross” use of their personal data between different Google services, with possible significant impacts on privacy and competition in the digital market.