…The deal’s about devices, not data, according to the search giant.
Google’s acquisition of wearable maker Fitbit is official, the tech giant said in a blog post on recently.
The $2.1 billion deal was initially announced in late 2019, and faced scrutiny from European Union officials over privacy concerns relating to the health data Fitbit collects and how Google could use it. In December, Google got conditional approval in from the EU after promising not to use health data for targeted ads.
Google makes most of its money by selling ads based on the information it collects about its billions of users’ interests and whereabouts. Privacy watchdogs feared it might exploit Fitbit to peer even deeper into people’s lives.
But Google wound up entering a series of commitments in Europe and other parts of the world pledging it won’t use the health and fitness data from Fitbit’s 29 million users to sell more ads. It insists it is more interested in adding Fitbit to its expanding arsenal of internet-connected products, which include smartphones, laptops, speakers, cameras and thermostats.
“This deal has always been about devices, not data, and we’ve been clear since the beginning that we will protect Fitbit users’ privacy,” Google’s Senior Vice President for Devices and Services, Rick Osterloh, said in the post.
