Italy’s competitors authority AGCM mentioned on Thursday it has launched an investigation towards Google over an alleged abuse of dominant place in information portability. The watchdog mentioned in a press release that Google allegedly hindered interoperability with different platforms, significantly with Weople, an app by Italian operator Hoda. “Google’s conduct could compress the right to portability of personal data… and could constrain the economic benefits that consumers can derive from their data,” the regulator mentioned, including that the alleged abuse might restrict competitors.
The competitors regulator carried out inspections on Wednesday at Google premises together with Italy’s finance police, it mentioned in a press release.
Google was not instantly accessible for remark.
Back in May, Britain’s competitors regulator launched its second probe into the promoting practices of the corporate, saying the Alphabet-owned search big may very well be distorting competitors and should have illegally favoured its personal companies.
The Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) probe follows its investigation into Google and Facebook owner-Meta’s “Jedi Blue” settlement earlier this yr.
The CMA had revealed it was analyzing three key elements of the advert tech stack chain, companies that mediate advert tech, since Google owned the most important supplier in every of these elements.
Last yr, Britain’s competitors regulator opened a proper investigation into Amazon and Alphabet’s Google over considerations the tech giants haven’t completed sufficient to fight pretend evaluations on their websites.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) mentioned it goals to assemble additional data to find out whether or not the companies might have damaged shopper regulation by taking inadequate motion to guard buyers from pretend evaluations.
The transfer got here after an preliminary CMA investigation, which opened in May 2020, and assessed a number of platforms’ inside techniques and processes for figuring out and coping with pretend evaluations.
The regulator mentioned it was additionally involved that Amazon’s techniques had failed adequately to forestall and deter some sellers from manipulating product listings, by means of for instance co-opting constructive evaluations from different merchandise.
© Thomson Reuters 2022
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