User data: Federal Cartel Office warns Google

Status: 01/11/2023 11:48 a.m

Google should give its users more choices in the processing of their private data in the future. The Federal Cartel Office demands this. So far, the group has processed user data across services.

The Federal Cartel Office has warned the Internet giant Google. The Bonn competition authorities demanded that the subsidiary of the US group Alphabet adjust its data processing conditions: “Google’s business model is fundamentally based on the processing of user data,” said Andreas Mundt, head of the Cartel Office.

The Cartel Office is bothered by the way in which Google can collect data for a wide variety of purposes and process it across services in services such as Google Search, YouTube, Google Play, Google Maps and the Google Assistant. The federal authority said that “on the basis of the current conditions, users do not have a sufficient choice as to whether and to what extent they agree to this extensive processing”.

“Intransparent and blanket”

The options offered so far are “too non-transparent and general”, complained the competition authorities. For example, Google customers should be able to limit the processing of their data to the service they are using.

With the warning, the company is given the opportunity to comment on the allegations and to present further justifications or proposed solutions. The Bundeskartellamt then intends to “order the company to redesign the options offered”.

Is the Federal Cartel Office responsible?

The background to the action are new powers of the Cartel Office. They are intended to help secure competition in the Internet economy. The Cartel Office can then more easily determine a dominant position of companies and intervene to prohibit certain types of behavior. The Cartel Office had already certified Google as having such a position in December 2021.

However, experts disagree as to whether the Cartel Office is responsible for these questions and whether the administrative act is, from a legal point of view, a warning. In its announcement, the authority itself admits that the European Digital Markets Act (DMA), the enforcement of which falls under the exclusive responsibility of the EU Commission, will apply to certain Google services in the future. This would mean that the German authorities would be left out.

According to the Cartel Office, it is in contact with the EU Commission. Authority President Mundt emphasized that Google’s business model is fundamentally based on the processing of user data: “Google has a strategic advantage here over other companies due to the established access to relevant data from a very large number of different services.”

Constructive exchange announced

Google said the company’s goal is always to offer products that put users first and meet the needs of regulators. “We are fulfilling our responsibility, among other things, by continuously adapting our services. We will continue to engage in constructive discussions with the Federal Cartel Office and try to dispel the concerns.”

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