Google to reform data terms after German antitrust intervention

Germany’s Federal Cartel Office said in a statement that: “Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, gives users better choice as to how Google processes their data according to Commitments undertaken by Google. The Commitments are the result of a proceeding conducted by the Bundeskartellamt based on the new instrument under competition law, which allows the Bundeskartellamt to intervene when competition is threatened by large digital companies. The new provision was introduced in 2021. The proceeding is a testament to the close cooperation between the Bundeskartellamt and the European Commission on the way to achieving more competition and fair markets in the digital sector… In the future Google will have to provide its users with the possibility to give free, specific, informed and unambiguous consent to the processing of their data across services. For this purpose Google has to offer corresponding choice options for the combination of data. The selection dialogues must be designed so as not to guide users manipulatively towards cross-service data processing. Where data are not actually processed across services and Google’s data processing terms explicitly make this clear, Google will not have to offer choice options. Any obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation remain unaffected by these obligations.”