Earlier this year, Apple introduced a contentious feature that required developers to obtain permission from consumers before following them and to disclose what data was being collected. Facebook is the source of most of the criticism, whilst Google has maintained a more neutral approach. However, it appears that the Search Engine King has made up its mind and has decided to support Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature.
Third-party cookies were not to be allowed in Google’s Chrome browser, as the company previously decided. However, the plan has been put on hold.
Ban on Monitoring Cookies
Cookies track user behavior on the internet and allow digital publishers to target advertisements. Many of Google’s competitors, including Apple, Microsoft, and Mozilla, have already blocked them.
However, critics argue that Google’s ban encourages ad sellers to go directly to the company for this data, giving it an unfair edge.
That’s because Google intends to replace the system with one of its designs, which it believes is more privacy-friendly while still allowing advertisement. The UK Competition and Markets Authority is already looking into its recommendations (CMA). The prohibition was supposed to go into effect in 2022, but it has been postponed until 2023.
“It’s become evident that time is needed across the ecosystem,” said Vinay Goel, privacy engineering director for Google’s Chrome browser, in a blog post. Chrome has a 65 percent market share worldwide, according to GlobalStats.According to Farhad Divecha, head of digital marketing business AccuraCast, the delay is good news for his industry.
“We appreciate the delay and only hope that Google takes advantage of it to engage with the CMA as well as the other stakeholders who will be impacted by the changes, such as advertisers, agencies, publishers, and ad-tech and tracking solution providers,” he said. The Privacy Sandbox is the name given to Google’s latest privacy proposals.
The introduction of something called The Federated Learning of Cohorts, or “Floc,” is one of its principles. The concept is that a browser with Floc would collect data on users’ browsing patterns and assign them to a group, or “flock,” of people who have similar surfing histories. Each would have a unique ID that advertising could use to determine their preferences.
Summing Up
The update has caused a lot of commotion in the tech world. There seems to be strong criticism regarding anti- data sharing developments but developers since companies greatly profit from the personalized bubble created by the data received. The full functionality of the update is still a bit unclear; we’ll have to wait for the time being for further details.