Google closes Fitbit deal making commitment to protect user privacy and silo data
Google has completed its acquisition of Fitbit, which has a community of 29 million active users. The announcement follows a year of negotiation that resulted in Google’s promises to safeguard consumer privacy, keep Fitbit user data separate and to not use the Fitbit data for Google advertising.
Hearst CDS Global, which mostly handles magazine subscriptions, is attacking the identity side of targeting with Mylo, which lets consumers access multiple Web sites after signing in just once. The idea is to capture more first-party data about each visitor, regaining some of the visibility lost when third-party cookies are unavailable.
Users will not need to log into their Google account to use smart devices, so will not have their activity saved.
The U.S. Senate has passed a bill that could potentially ban TikTok in the U.S. if its Chinese owner, ByteDance, does not sell its holdings within a year. The bill now goes to the President Biden, who has said he will sign it. Court challenges are likely to follow.