The Italian competition authority has fined Google and Apple a total of 20 million euros for improper business practices.
According to the antitrust committee, both companies have each violated consumer law on two counts. For example, they have not provided sufficient information to their customers and used aggressive practices to use consumer data for commercial purposes.
Both Google and Apple collect data from users. Still, the two digital giants fail to provide immediate and clear information regarding the acquisition and use of that data for commercial purposes, and the competition authority has criticized. The watchdog also denounces the ‘aggressive practices’ that both companies are engaged in.
For example, Google would already provide for a pre-activation of the transfer and use of data by Google during the creation of an account by a user, without further steps being built in to allow the user to confirm or change that choice, according to the statement of the competition authority. At Apple, too, the consumer does not have sufficient opportunity to choose whether or not to share his or her data.
On Tuesday, the independent authority already imposed a heavy fine of 200 million euros on Amazon and Apple because the technology giants colluded to limit the access of Apple sellers to Amazon’s online store.