According to a file made by the European Commission on Thursday, EU antitrust regulators will decide by 6 July whether to approve Amazon.com Inc.’s $1.7 billion acquisition of the company that makes robot vacuum cleaners, iRobot Corp.

In August of last year, American online retailer Amazon announced the acquisition, which will expand its line-up of smart gadgets, including the Alexa voice assistant, smart thermostats, security systems, wall-mounted smart displays, and Astro, a robot that resembles a dog.

Following its preliminary evaluation, the EU competition enforcer can either approve the merger with or without remedies, or if it has major concerns, it can launch a four-month inquiry.

“We’re working cooperatively with the relevant regulators in their review of this merger,” an Amazon spokesperson said.

The deal is also being investigated by the UK competition authority and the US Federal Trade Commission.

Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are leery of Big Tech purchasing smaller competitors, particularly those with access to large numbers of user data, and they frequently seek fixes in exchange for allowing such acquisitions.

Amazon has stated that it will continue to provide iRobot products to other sellers and maintain their compatibility with voice assistants made by other companies.

Amazon’s gadgets division currently contributes a little portion of the company’s revenue. Critics claim that the iRobot acquisition is a privacy nightmare since it would give the firm access to more information about people’s homes.

(Adapted from ThePrint.in)

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