THEItalian antitrust opened a Google survey assuming an abuse of a dominant position in data portability. The American giant is a leader in various markets “that allow for the acquisition of large quantities of data – it reads in a note – through the services provided (Gmail, Google Maps, Android) and in 2021 achieved a turnover of 257,6 billion dollars”. Yesterday the Authority conducted inspections at Google's offices with the collaboration of the military of the Guardia di Finanza.
The suspicions of the Antitrust on Google
In detail, according to the Antitrust, “Google would hampered interoperability in data sharing present in its platform with other platforms, in particular with the Weople APP, managed by Hoda, an operator active in Italy that has developed a data investment bank”.
This behavior of Google “is able to compress the right to the portability of personal data – continues the note from the Authority – and to limit the benefits that consumers could derive from the valorisation of their data”.
Furthermore, in commercial terms, the alleged conduct against Google “determines a restriction of competition because it limits the ability of other operators to develop innovative ways of using personal data".
Hoda's reporting
In particular, Hoda denounced to the Antitrust "the negative effects of Google's conduct on its initiative aimed at enhancing personal data with the consent of the owner of the same and which offers innovative use opportunities and still unexplored product perspectives".
The importance of data portability
The institute of data portability, allowing to facilitate the circulation of data and the mobility of users, "offers to alternative operators the possibility of exercising competitive pressure on operators such as Google, which base their dominance on the creation of ecosystems based on the management of potentially unlimited quantities of data, functional only to their business model".
Furthermore, the right to portability, "if accompanied by effective interoperability mechanisms, can offer users the possibility of achieving the maximum economic potential from the use of personal data, also through alternative methods of exploitation to those currently practiced by the dominant operator”, concludes the Antitrust.
Google's reply
“Google has been offering people the ability to mine and transfer their data for nearly a decade. They are tools designed to help people manage their personal information, not to give other companies or intermediaries access to more data to sell. This would mean putting people's privacy at risk, as well as encouraging fraudulent activity”. This was stated by a Google spokesperson. "For companies - underlines the spokesman - there are already ways to increase the direct portability of data in their services, for example through the open source Data Transfer Project, in which any organization is invited to participate".
