Italy’s competition watchdog, the AGCM, today said that it will investigate Apple Inc., Google LLC and Dropbox Inc. over their respective file storage platforms’ terms of service.

Regulators are concerned the companies may have run afoul of Italy’s Consumer Rights Directive and engaged in unfair commercial practices. If the AGCM finds they did indeed violate regulations, the companies could face fines and may be ordered to change their terms of service.

Apple competes in the file storage market with its iCloud service, while Google has Drive and Dropbox offers its namesake Dropbox platform. The AGCM’s newly announced investigation will seek to determine if the three companies imposed unfair contractual terms on users who had signed up for their respective platforms.

Apple’s iCloud had an estimated 850 million users as of 2018. The same year, Dropbox crossed 500 million signups and Drive reached the 1 billion users mark not long after. 

The AGCM is launching its investigation over concerns the companies may have failed to inform consumers adequately that their personal information is collected and used for commercial purposes. Moreover, the regulator is looking into the possibility that the way the companies secured users’ permission to collect this information isn’t fully legal. 

Apple, Google and Dropbox will also face scrutiny over certain other parts of their terms of service contracts. Specifically, AGCM officials plan to examine a number of contract clauses used by the companies that shield them from liability if a user’s documents are lost and allow them to block or suspend users’ access to their file storage platforms. 

Some of the clauses facing scrutiny are specific to Dropbox. The AGCM will evaluate whether the company’s terms of service fail to give users adequate access to out-of-court dispute settlement mechanisms they can turn to if a legal disagreement arises. Another point of interest for regulators is that Dropbox may have failed to inform users on the proper steps and conditions involved in ending a contract with the company. 

The AGCM in 2018 fined Facebook Inc. 10 million euros for not properly informing users that it collects their data and failing to obtain their express consent. The watchdog also directed the company to publish an apology on its platform. 

Photo: Niels Epting/Flickr