The European Commission has revealed to Reuters that EU antitrust regulators are currently investigating Google's collection of data despite the fact that the search giant has already received record fines in the EU.
An EU executive said that antitrust regulators are seeking more information on how and why Google is collecting data. In an email to Reuters, the EU regulator explained that the European Commission has already begun a preliminary investigation into the company, saying:
“The Commission has sent out questionnaires as part of a preliminary investigation into Google’s practices relating to Google’s collection and use of data. The preliminary investigation is ongoing.”
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Data collection
According to a document seen by Reuters, the EU's focus in its preliminary investigation is related to data collected and used in local search services, online advertising, online ad targeting services, login services, web browsers and more.
Over the last two years, European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has fined Google multiple times to the amount of over eight billion euros and she has even ordered the company to change its business practices.
Google has responded to these fines and other allegations by saying it uses data to improve its services and users have the ability to manage, delete or transfer data collected about them at any time.
Regulators in the US and the EU are currently looking into how tech giants use and monetize data, so we will likely see other large tech companies being investigated in the same way that the European Commission is planning to do with Google.
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Via Reuters
