Google is under antitrust investigation in Italy for alleged “misleading and aggressive” business practices, the latest in an intensifying string of competition investigations targeting the tech giant in the United States and Europe.
Italy’s competition authority said its investigation focuses on the consent requests Google sends to users regarding their data, which “do not appear to provide any relevant information” about “the actual impact of consent on users of Google’s personal data.”
“Google’s request for consent to linking the services it offers to users could amount to misleading and aggressive commercial practices,” the Italian agency said. He said in a press release.
“Indeed, it appears to be accompanied by insufficient, incomplete and misleading information, which may affect people’s choices about whether and to what extent they should give consent.”
Italian authorities are also investigating cases in which Google has sought consent for the “merging” or “interoperability” of personal data across multiple services, including its main search engine and YouTube.
Google may be implementing consent requests in a way that “may limit the average consumer’s freedom of choice” by asking users to allow their data to be used across multiple services while only using one.
The Washington Post has reached out to Google for comment on the investigation.
The Italian investigation is a new headache for the company, which is facing two antitrust lawsuits from the U.S. Department of Justice alleging unfair trade practices.
A federal judge is expected to rule later this year on a landmark lawsuit targeting Google’s online search empire.
Separately, a lawsuit alleging Google’s monopoly on digital advertising technology is set to go to trial this fall.
Meanwhile, the European Commission, the European Union’s competition watchdog, announced in March that Google was facing a violation investigation focused on “Alphabet’s rules on inducements on Google Play and self-preferential use in Google Search.”
Google is under investigation under the European Digital Markets Act, which targets six technology companies deemed gatekeepers to the internet.
