Google commits to involve UK's competition and privacy regulators in the development of its Privacy Sandbox proposals to replace third-party cookies on Chrome
The CMA had already opened an investigation into Chrome’s cookie-replacement plans over the risk that changes to third-party cookies could curb rival advertising. Google’s commitment turns that scrutiny into a role for UK competition and privacy regulators during Privacy Sandbox development.
The importance is not merely the removal of a browser feature: Chrome’s replacement mechanisms will be developed under oversight aimed at limiting the gatekeeper’s ability to set the terms of the post-cookie advertising market alone.
First-order effects
Google must involve the CMA and UK privacy regulators as it develops Privacy Sandbox, adding regulatory input to Chrome’s replacement for third-party cookies.
The CMA gains a direct channel to assess whether Google’s proposed browser changes address its concerns about effects on rival advertising.
Second-order effects
Advertising rivals and other affected market participants gain a regulatory forum for challenging Privacy Sandbox design choices rather than relying only on Google’s technical process.
Google’s privacy transition becomes subject to competition as well as privacy review, making product design and deployment more dependent on regulator-facing commitments.
Third-order effects
If this oversight model holds, browser privacy changes at platform gatekeepers will increasingly be treated as market-structure decisions, not solely as product or data-protection choices.
The trend: Privacy-focused platform changes are being brought under competition oversight when they can also redefine access to digital advertising markets.
It's fascinating that competition regulators will micromanage privacy changes Google makes to reduce online tracking because it'll harm advertisers. Yet Apple gets to make bigger changes with no oversight and then markets privacy against Google. 🤔 https://www.cnbc.com/...
The CMA will impose “specific limits on how Google can use and combine customer data for digital advertising” via FLoC. If there are no unique IDs, as Google claims, what does this tell us about how the company intends to use aggregated FLoC data? https://www.gov.uk/...
🌐 We've secured commitments from #Google to address concerns about its proposal to remove third-party cookies from Chrome. Together with @ICOnews, we'll assess the effectiveness of alternatives to third -party cookies being developed. Read more ➡️ https://www.gov.uk/... https://t…
Important announcement by @CMAgovUK Shows increase of privacy related antitrust scrutiny & importance of swift intervention. CMA to have key oversight role over Google's planned removal of third-party cookies https://www.gov.uk/...
This feels big news..? If accurate, this is great. Move a wide ranging spectrum of debate into reasonable & rounded law. Big fan of taking ecosystem decisions out of the hands of conflicted parties with various political interests. Thoughts @johnwilander? https://www.google.com/.…
CMA vs. Google: if anything, then this is the way to go. But first, the devil is in the details. Second, I'd rather like to see CMA+ICO ordering G to remove third-party cookies AND stop using any of the data for purposes beyond direct user functionality. https://www.gov.uk/... ht…
There has been a lot of conference chatter about “participative antitrust.” Looks like the CMA and Google are trying it out for real. https://blog.google/...
Apple gets to make mammoth anticompetitive policy changes and has the most facially anticompetitive rules in place, but is insulated from antitrust by not having major ad sales or gaming businesses (tho in fact it's huge in both). https://twitter.com/...