ROME, July 18 -- Italian antitrust officials said on Thursday they have opened an investigation into Google and its parent company Alphabet regarding "misleading and aggressive" commercial practices towards its users.

The investigation alleges that the consent process Google requires from its users gives the company unfair access to personal information, without giving users the possibility of opting out or modifying the terms.

"The (antitrust) authority alleges that Google uses techniques and methods for requesting consent and for setting up the mechanisms for obtaining consent itself that could condition the freedom of choice of the average consumer," the regulator said in a statement.

"Indeed, the customer is induced to take a commercial decision that he or she would not have taken otherwise by consenting to the combination and cross-use of his or her personal data among the plurality of services offered," it concluded.

The investigation does not carry the threat of an economic fine at this point, but demands changes in policy from Alphabet.

Antitrust investigations in individual European Union member states supervise corporate policy as changes required in one country are usually applied across the 27-nation bloc.