Thread by @natashanyt

1/ Google's $2.1 billion purchase of Fitbit represents much more than a hardware play for wearables, my colleague @satariano writes.
It is also a major digital health merger.
nytimes.com/2019/11/01/tec…

@satariano 2/The deal advances Google's health push in part because researchers are already running a number of randomized clinical trials examining whether Fitbit may improve sleep, speed post-surgical recovery and increase activity for knee replacement patients. bit.ly/2JB9pf9

@satariano 3/The Fitbit deal also paves the way for Google to aggressively move into insurance and employee health. Fitbit told @chrissyfarr that nearly 7 million people were using its devices as part of workplace health, insurance and patient wellness programs.
cnb.cx/2JG0rwZ

@satariano @chrissyfarr 4/Be prepared for a health privacy backlash, however. Google's AI company, DeepMind, got into trouble a couple of years ago when it got access to 1.6 million patient records in the U.K. — a deal that failed to comply with British data protection law.
theguardian.com/technology/201…

@satariano @chrissyfarr 5/ Google and the University of Chicago Medical Center are also facing a patient privacy lawsuit. The lawsuit claims that Chicago violated patients' privacy by selling their medical records to Google without obtaining their permission.
nytimes.com/2019/06/26/tec…

@satariano @chrissyfarr 6/ The $2.1 billion privacy question: Will Google be able to merge Fitbit user data with Google data?