Italy’s competition watchdog said on Thursday that it had opened an investigation into Google and its parent company Alphabet over suspected “unfair commercial practices” linked to user data consent requests sent to consumers.
“The request for consent that Google submits to its users to the linking of the services offered may constitute a misleading and aggressive commercial practice,” the AGCM competition authority said in a statement.
“Indeed, it appears to be accompanied by inadequate, incomplete and misleading information and it could influence the choice of whether and to what extent consent should be given,” it said.
The US tech giant requests consent from users to aggregate and use their personal data across its different services, including Google’s search engine, its Maps service and YouTube, among others.
But the consent request provides little or no clear information “as to the real effect that consent has on Google’s use of personal data of users”, the watchdog said.
It also accused Google of using “techniques and methods for requesting consent, and also for setting up the mechanisms for obtaining consent itself, which could condition the freedom of choice of the average consumer”.
A Google spokesperson said the company would study the details of the case and “work cooperatively with the authority”.
The Federconsumatori consumer rights group welcomed the watchdog’s case against Google, calling on consumers to be cautious when giving consent and to report back anything “unclear or intransparent”.
In 2021, the watchdog imposed a fine of 10 million euros ($10.9 million) on both Google and its rival Apple for failing to provide enough information to users and resorting to “aggressive methods” in the use of their data for commercial purposes.
It said that neither company provided “clear and immediate information” on how user data was obtained and used.
The authority also hit Google with a fine of more than 100 million euros ($109 million) in May 2021 for abusing its dominant market position by shutting out a rival’s smartphone app for users of electric vehicles.