Google monitored over privacy change to Chrome web browser
THE competition watchdog will appoint a monitor to keep tabs on changes to Google’s Chrome web browser after the company promised the overhaul would not give its advertising business an unfair advantage.
Google has committed to ensuring that an upcoming privacy change to Chrome does not tighten its grip on the online advertising market following an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
The search giant said it will help rivals manage the change and by ringfencing data that would give its advertising business an advantage.
The CMA has been investigating Google’s plans to block “third party cookies”, pieces of code that advertisers use to track individuals around the web and target adverts.
Google plans to replace this with its own technology, known as Privacy Sandbox, that it said will allow adverts to be targeted while preserving personal data.
Chrome is the world’s most popular browser. Advertising companies had warned that the changes would allow Google to enjoy outsized power to target adverts, while leaving rivals blind.
Yesterday, the CMA said it had secured commitments from Google that included providing regular reports to the regulator on the changes, and appointing a regulator-approved trustee to manage the changes. It said the pledges would last six years, longer than previously proposed.
Andrea Coscelli, CMA chief executive, said: “We have always been clear that Google’s efforts to protect user’s privacy cannot come at the cost of reduced competition.”
The regulator is now consulting on the changes before closing its inquiry.
Google’s rivals cautiously welcomed the changes. Movement for an Open Web, which had pushed for the CMA to investigate, said they were a positive step but cautioned that they would merit more scrutiny.
Timothy Cowen of law firm Preiskel & Co who is the group’s legal adviser, said: “We will be looking closely at these commitments. Like any Black Friday offer they may be good but they may also be too good to be true.”
Google’s commitments include not using its own data on people to target adverts outside its own websites, as well as restricting the use of browsing history. It has said it will apply the pledges globally. It said: “These revisions underline our commitment to ensuring that the changes we make in Chrome will apply in the same way to Google’s ad tech products as to any third party.”
‘Like any Black Friday offer they may be good but they may also be too good to be true’