Italy is investigating Apple, Google and Dropbox!
In a press release, the AGCM (Italian Competition Authority) announced that it has launched six investigations into cloud storage services: Google Drive, iCloud and Dropbox.
The authority is concerned that services do not adequately explain how they collect and use user data for commercial purposes. It is also investigating unfair clauses in service contracts or terms that exempt services from certain liability and the prevalence of English versions of contracts over Italian versions.
In July, Italy launched an antitrust investigation into Amazon and Apple over Beats headphones. Authorities want to know whether the two companies colluded to prevent retailers outside Apple's official program from selling products like Beats headphones.
Big tech companies are facing increased pressure from antitrust regulators in the US and Europe. The US Department of Justice is likely to “present” its case against Google later this month. Apple is in a battle with Epic over App Store , and the antitrust case against Amazon is still unresolved. Of course, it’s hard to say how effective any of these investigations will be in changing industry behavior, but at least efforts are being made to ensure competition works properly.
