Competition & Regulation

Google’s Proposed Takeover of Fitbit Raises Alarm Bells for Consumer & Citizen Groups

Washington, D.C. — The Consumer Federation of America, along with over a dozen international consumer and citizen groups, released a joint statement sounding the alarm over competition and privacy concerns around Google’s proposed takeover of wearables company Fitbit.

The letter raised three key issues that regulators must prioritize during their ongoing merger review: Google’s ability to limit interoperability between their Android smartphone operating system and competitors’ wearables, Google’s potential limiting rivals access to wearables data, and Google further entrenching their well-established dominance in the digital advertising market, which relies heavily on data access.