Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      The little-known company disrupting Eskom’s monopoly

      16 June 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E2: South Africa’s digital battlefield

      16 June 2025

      AI and the future of ICT distribution

      16 June 2025

      Beijing’s chip champions blacklisted by Taiwan

      16 June 2025

      Chief sub-editor wanted – help shape South African tech media

      16 June 2025
    • World

      Yahoo tries to make its mail service relevant again

      13 June 2025

      Qualcomm shows off new chip for AI smart glasses

      11 June 2025

      Trump tariffs to dim 2025 smartphone shipments

      4 June 2025

      Shrimp Jesus and the AI ad invasion

      4 June 2025

      Apple slams EU rules as ‘flawed and costly’ in major legal pushback

      2 June 2025
    • In-depth

      Grok promised bias-free chat. Then came the edits

      2 June 2025

      Digital fortress: We go inside JB5, Teraco’s giant new AI-ready data centre

      30 May 2025

      Sam Altman and Jony Ive’s big bet to out-Apple Apple

      22 May 2025

      South Africa unveils big state digital reform programme

      12 May 2025

      Is this the end of Google Search as we know it?

      12 May 2025
    • TCS

      TechCentral Nexus S0E1: Starlink, BEE and a new leader at Vodacom

      8 June 2025

      TCS+ | The future of mobile money, with MTN’s Kagiso Mothibi

      6 June 2025

      TCS+ | AI is more than hype: Workday execs unpack real human impact

      4 June 2025

      TCS | Sentiv, and the story behind the buyout of Altron Nexus

      3 June 2025

      TCS | Signal restored: Unpacking the Blue Label and Cell C turnaround

      28 May 2025
    • Opinion

      Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

      2 June 2025

      South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

      2 June 2025

      Digital giants boost South African news media – and get blamed for it

      29 May 2025

      Solar panic? The truth about SSEG, fines and municipal rules

      14 April 2025

      Data protection must be crypto industry’s top priority

      9 April 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » World » EU antitrust chief labels tech firms ‘robot vacuum cleaners’

    EU antitrust chief labels tech firms ‘robot vacuum cleaners’

    By Agency Staff27 August 2019
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp
    Margrethe Vestager

    Technology firms are “robot vacuum cleaners” sucking up valuable data in a way that can undermine competition, European Union antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said in a speech on Tuesday.

    “Platforms like Google and Facebook, they collect data from consumers, not just the posts we like on Facebook or the searches we make on Google, but much more unexpected things, like the Onavo VPN app” which sent Facebook information on other apps and websites accessed by users, Vestager told a conference at the German foreign ministry in Berlin on Tuesday.

    Fresh from fining Google billions of euros, Vestager has been probing Facebook’s services and libra cryptocurrency and investigating how Amazon.com handles sellers on its site. Internet firms have “an obvious temptation to adjust the way the platform works to favour their own services ahead of others”, she said.

    “We’re looking now at whether the same thing may have happened to other parts of Google’s business, like the job-search business known as Google for Jobs,” Vestager said, weeks after the EU surveyed recruitment sites about the Alphabet business.

    “The way these companies collect and use data can undermine competition,” she said. They are “like robot vacuum cleaners” and “are working their way into every corner of our digital world and sucking up data”.

    “What they’re sucking up is not rubbish, it is gold.”  — Reported by Aoife White and Patrick Donahue, (c) 2019 Bloomberg LP



    Amazon Facebook Google Margrethe Vestager
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleHuawei smartphone sales grow strongly, despite US sanctions
    Next Article Gugulethu entrepreneurs issue new summons against Nedbank

    Related Posts

    WeThinkCode secures R35-million Google.org grant to nurture AI talent

    10 June 2025

    Apple throws shade, not code, as it falls behind in AI

    10 June 2025

    How AI is rewriting the rules of software development

    4 June 2025
    Company News

    Huawei Watch Fit 4 Series: smarter sensors, sharper design, stronger performance

    13 June 2025

    Change Logic and BankservAfrica set new benchmark with PayShap roll-out

    13 June 2025

    SAPHILA 2025 – transcending with purpose, connection and AI-powered vision

    13 June 2025
    Opinion

    Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

    2 June 2025

    South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

    2 June 2025

    Digital giants boost South African news media – and get blamed for it

    29 May 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.