If true, Google just handed antitrust investigators a petard.
What you need to know
Google has been accused of using data from apps installed on Google Play equipped phones to build its own competing services. According to a report by (via ), this is a private Google project where all the data is stored in an "Android Lockbox."
Google reportedly used this data to build a TikTok rival in . It has also analyzed data from email apps and social media apps like Facebook and Instagram. Such a move could be seen as anti-competitive, especially as th against Google.
for the same behavior, the EU's Commissioner in charge of competition policy, Margrethe Vestager, said:
Swap out a few words here, and it's not hard to see where a new EU antitrust investigation could spring from. Google for its part says that it does collect app user data, but that data is something that individual developers do have access to. Of course, Google has a much wider range of data points, and isn't limited to looking at just data from one app but can see a whole lot of them to gain a fuller picture of user patterns.
It's also worth noting that Google offers a lot of apps that compete with everyone. competes with Spotify and Netflix. compete with the myriad number of Android notes app. does so with both SMS apps and regular messaging apps. Google could conceivably use data for all these rivals to build its own apps up. If it did so with YoouTube Shorts, then it could do so with any of its other apps. For its part, Googe didn't confirm or deny whether it had used the data in this way.
What you need to know
- Google reportedly collects and uses data from rival apps to build its own competing apps and services.
- The company was accused of using TikTok's data when creating YouTube Shorts, a short-form video service.
- Amazon faced an EU investigation for similar behavior.
Google has been accused of using data from apps installed on Google Play equipped phones to build its own competing services. According to a report by (via ), this is a private Google project where all the data is stored in an "Android Lockbox."
Google reportedly used this data to build a TikTok rival in . It has also analyzed data from email apps and social media apps like Facebook and Instagram. Such a move could be seen as anti-competitive, especially as th against Google.
for the same behavior, the EU's Commissioner in charge of competition policy, Margrethe Vestager, said:
Swap out a few words here, and it's not hard to see where a new EU antitrust investigation could spring from. Google for its part says that it does collect app user data, but that data is something that individual developers do have access to. Of course, Google has a much wider range of data points, and isn't limited to looking at just data from one app but can see a whole lot of them to gain a fuller picture of user patterns.
It's also worth noting that Google offers a lot of apps that compete with everyone. competes with Spotify and Netflix. compete with the myriad number of Android notes app. does so with both SMS apps and regular messaging apps. Google could conceivably use data for all these rivals to build its own apps up. If it did so with YoouTube Shorts, then it could do so with any of its other apps. For its part, Googe didn't confirm or deny whether it had used the data in this way.