CANBERRA: The Australian trust regulator on Tuesday (Dec. 22) rejected a pledge by Alphabet-owned Google that sought to address competition concerns about its acquisition of US $ 2.1 billion Fitbit fitness tracker will do.
The improvement comes as Google remains at the forefront of the Australian government’s logger over a number of issues, including proposed laws that will make Australia the first country in the world to force Google and Facebook pay for news received from local media.
In June, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) raised concerns about the Fitbit deal, warning that Google’s build would give it too much human data, which could hurt competition in markets. health and online advertising.
Google had tried to address these concerns by offering a mandatory court guarantee that it would behave in certain ways toward accessible manufacturers, without using health data for advertising and, in some cases, giving competing businesses access to health and fitness data.
“While we recognize that the European Commission has recently accepted a similar commitment from Google, we are not satisfied that such a long-term behavioral commitment in such a complex and dynamic industry could be reviewed and effectively implemented in Australia, ”ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said in a statement.
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The regulator also noted that several other competition authorities, including the U.S. Department of Justice, had yet to decide on the agreement.
The ACCC said they would continue with the investigation and set a new decision date of March 25, 2021.
The regulator also has investigations open to advertising technology and mobile app stores, with reports due in January and March, respectively, targeting the market power of fast – growing internet giants.