 LONDON AP - European Union regulators opened an in-depth investigation Tuesday into U.S. tech giant Googles plan to buy fitness tracking device maker Fitbit. The EUs executive commission said it was concerned the deal would entrench Googles position in the online ad market by increasing the already vast amount of data the company uses to personalize ads. Our investigation aims to ensure that control by Google over data collected through wearable devices as a result of the transaction does not distort competition, said European Commission Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, who also is the EUs competition commissioner. Google agreed to buy Fitbit in November for 2.1 billion. Privacy and consumer groups have called on authorities to block the deal, citing privacy and antitrust concerns. The EU said the deal could expand Googles data advantage and therefore raise barriers for rivals to match Googles online advertising services. In an effort to allay the apprehension, Google offered to put all information collected from wearable devices into a virtual data silo. But the overture wasnt enough to satisfy the European Commission, which said the proposal wouldnt cover all the data Google could access as a result of the acquisition. This deal is about devices, not data, said Rick Osterloh, Googles senior vice president for devices and services. Weve been clear from the beginning that we will not use Fitbit health and wellness data for Google ads, he wrote in a blog post. The investigation underscores the leading role EU authorities have taken in global efforts to regulate the big technology companies. Vestager has been at forefront of the movement to rein in the likes of Google and its Silicon Valley rivals. During her... 