EU antitrust regulators are investigating Google’s data collection practices, reports Reuters

Google is facing another antitrust investigation from the European commission even after paying record fines last year due to its questionable data collection and advertising practices. According to a report by Reuters, EU antitrust regulators are investigating Google’s data collection practices.

“The Commission has sent out questionnaires as part of a preliminary investigation into Google’s practices relating to Google’s collection and use of data. The preliminary investigation is ongoing,” the EU regulator told Reuters in an email. Google said it uses data to better its services and that users can manage, delete and transfer their data at any time. The EU is looking into “how and why” the company collects data, specifically related to “local search services, login services, web browser, and others.”, told an executive to Reuters.

Google has been previously hit by three antitrust fines by the EU, with a total antitrust bill amount of around $9.3 billion, to date. In March, the European Union fined Google 1.49 billion euros for antitrust violations in online advertising. Last year, the EU slapped Google with $5 billion fine for the Android antitrust case. Google is also facing multiple scrutinies from the Irish DPC, FTC, and an antitrust probe by US state attorneys over its data collection and advertising practices

Also, based on an investigation launched into YouTube by the Federal Trade Commission earlier this year, Google and YouTube have been fined a penalty of $170M to settle allegations that it broke federal law by collecting children’s personal information via YouTube Kids.

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