Google is facing an antitrust investigation in Italy over possible “deceptive and aggressive” commercial practices — the latest in a series of mounting competition probes targeting the tech giant in the US and Europe.
The Italian competition authority said the investigation focuses on the consent requests that Google sends to users regarding their data. The requests “do not appear to provide relevant information” about the “real effect that consent has on the user of personal data by Google.”
“The request for consent that Google presents to its users for the linking of the services offered could constitute a misleading and aggressive commercial practice,” the Italian agency said according to a press release.
“It does indeed appear that there is insufficient, incomplete and misleading information and that this may influence the choice of whether and to what extent consent should be given.”
Italian officials are also investigating cases in which Google asks for permission for the “combination” and “cross-use” of personal data across multiple services, such as Google’s main search engine and YouTube.
Google may be implementing the consent requests in a way that could “impact the freedom of choice of the average consumer” by requiring users to consent to the use of their data across multiple services, even though they only use one.
The Post has asked Google for comment on the research.
The Italian investigation is an additional headache for the company, which is facing two ongoing antimonopoly cases in the US from the US Department of Justice over alleged unfair trade practices.
A federal judge is expected to rule later this year in the landmark case against Google’s online search empire.
In addition, a lawsuit is scheduled for this fall over Google’s alleged monopoly on digital advertising technology.
Elsewhere, the European Commission, the European Union’s competition watchdog, said in March that Google was facing a non-compliance investigation focused on “Alphabet’s rules on steering in Google Play and self-preference in Google Search.”
Google is being investigated under the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which targets six technology companies seen as gatekeepers to the internet.
