The Irish Data Protection Commission has opened an investigation into Google over suspected infringements of European Union privacy rules. A report in The Guardian notes that the statutory inquiry will probe whether Google’s online Ad Exchange violated general data protection regulations (GDPR) covering the sharing of personal data of Internet users, the watchdog said. ‘A statutory inquiry pursuant to section 110 of the Data Protection Act 2018 has been commenced in respect of Google Ireland Ltd’s processing of personal data in the context of its online Ad Exchange,’ it said. The inquiry would examine whether processing of personal data carried out at each stage of an advertising transaction complied with mandatory safeguards, it said. The announcement came almost a year after the EU adopted the sweeping rules to bolster regulators and give consumers more power to demand companies reveal or delete the personal data they hold. The investigation followed a formal complaint by Johnny Ryan, chief policy officer at Brave, the private web browser which blocks ads and trackers. He accused Google’s Internet ad services business, DoubleClick/Authorised Buyers, of leaking users’ intimate data to thousands of companies. It is the Irish Commission’s first statutory inquiry into Google since becoming the company’s lead European regulator in January. It has launched more than a dozen investigations into other big tech companies.