But this is NOT a company being sold! And not even a division or a product sold. It’s not a merger or acquisition. It is, what you described as this: “two standing independent companies exchanging personal data.”

Google Domains and Google Cloud Domains is shutting down: no technology or people transfer happens. Customer accounts are what are sold, as laid out in black-and-white by Google:

“On June 15, 2023, Google entered into a definitive agreement with Squarespace, where they intend to purchase all domain registrations and related customer accounts from Google Domains.”

We can argue what it means to sell “customer accounts from Google Domains” from Google to a third party company.

My interpretation that this is selling customer data (that is needed for the buyer to operate them: it’s selling, none the less, to a third party who is not Google). To me, this sounds like a new era starting where customer accounts owned by Google can be sold (and this is the first). Which is fine: but then Google cannot claim they will not do this, going forward. This was the deal Google promised its customers - which implied they won’t sell off eg Gmail acccounts to a third party, YouTube accounts, or Google Domain accounts.

Google didn’t write that Squarespace is “getting access to customer data”. They wrote Squarespace is purchasing these accounts (likely this wording to avoid writing that Google is selling this: but same difference). Google’s wording: not mine.

https://support.google.com/domains/answer/13689670?hl=en#:~:....