Germany challenges Google's data processing terms: users are not given full choice

Beijing time on the afternoon of January 11, it is reported that the German antitrust agency "Federal Cartel Office" (FCO) said today that it has raised objections to Google's data processing terms and expects the company to make adjustments accordingly.

The Federal Cartel Office said in a statement that it had issued a preliminary legal review to Alphabet, Google Ireland Ltd. and Google Germany Ltd., the parent company of Google on December 23.

The Federal Cartel Office said Google does not currently provide users with sufficient options to decide whether to agree and to what extent they agree to Google's processing of its data.

A Google spokesman said the company would continue to engage constructively with German regulators and try to address its concerns.

The spokesman added: "We are expected to run our business responsibly, maintaining a customer-oriented product experience and constantly updating our services to meet regulatory expectations."

As early as May 2021, the German Federal Cartel Office launched an antitrust investigation into Google. The Federal Cartel Office said at the time that Google's business model depended heavily on processing user data. Google has a strategic advantage because of its access to competition-related data.

When users use Google's services, they usually need to set up a Google account and agree to Google's relevant data processing terms. Whether these provisions are compliant or not has become the focus of attention.

Andreas Andreas Mundt, director of the Federal Cartel Office, said at the time: "We will carefully study Google's data processing terms. A key question is whether Google gives users enough choices in using user data."