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| Italy imposes sanctions on Google and Apple |
The Italian competition authority has fined Google and Apple 10 million euros (US$11.2 million) for aggressive actions related to the commercial use of user data.
The Italian Competition and Markets Authority found that these companies did not provide users with clear enough information about the commercial use of their data, in violation of the country's consumer law.
The regulators also accused Google and Apple of spreading aggressive practices to allow users to consent to a business transaction.
Google is accused of deleting relevant information during the account creation phase. The regulator said this information should be made available so that people can decide whether or not they will consent to the use of their data for commercial purposes.
The Italian Competition and Market Authority has also accused Apple of providing users with an Apple ID or logging in to its digital store (eg.
Italian regulators summarized the companies' practices in a press release announcing the sanctions. Everyone has been accused of being particularly aggressive in promoting selfish terms and conditions at the users account, especially during the account creation phase.
As for Google, Italy's Market and Competition Authority said it will pre-determine users' acceptance of commercial processing. He also noted that the search giant did not provide a clear option for users to withdraw their consent to such data transfers or change their options after completing the computation step.
He also believes that Apple's approach deprives users of the ability to properly make decisions about how businesses use their data. .
This is an embarrassing accusation for a company that spends a lot of money on marketing to claim that its hardware and software outperform alternatives because it claims to put user privacy at the heart of its business.
Antitrust authorities severely punish Google and Apple
Apple rejected the findings of the Italian Competition and Market Authority. "We believe the authorities' views are wrong and we are appealing the decision," she said in a statement. Apple has long been committed to protecting the privacy of its users. We strive to develop products and features that protect customer data. We provide visibility and control to all users so they can choose what information they want to share or not and how it is used.
A Google spokesperson also contradicted the findings. "We have taken a transparent and fair approach to providing our users with useful tools and clear information on how to use them," she said in a statement. We provide people with simple controls to manage their information and to limit the use of personal data. We strive to respect consumer protection rules. We do not agree with the committee's decision and we appeal the decision.
That's at the beginning of this month. Italian competition and market regulator fined Apple and Amazon $230 million (total). The reason for this is the existence of an alleged agreement to sell Apple products on the Italian Amazon market.