Italy’s antitrust authority said on Wednesday it had opened an investigation against Samsung in Italy and two other companies over alleged misleading and aggressive commercial practices.
The move comes amid a continent-wide push for greater accountability and transparency among the Tech sector, which has led to the discussion and passing of various wide-ranging bills in the EU area.
The regulator said it was looking into the deals offered by the companies to customers seeking to buy new mobile phones while selling their used devices as not enough nor adequate information was being supplied.
Privacy and data handling have been among the most salient subjects under consideration by competition and consumer protction authorities in Europe, over concerns that tech companies may leverage their large stores of data to affect competition, deterring innovation, while also compromising the safety of this data.
On Tuesday officials from the watchdog searched the offices of the companies involved, it added in the statement.
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