Google has moved to clarify its approach to developing new technologies to replace third-party tracking cookies, an effort designed to inject a higher level of aggregate In the digital advertising series.
At a press event attended by Pro radar technologyMatt Britten, Google’s president for Europe, Middle East and Africa, answered questions about the course of the Privacy Sandbox project and criticisms from privacy advocates.
“Users want a private and secure web; we can see that in our search results. But if you want this whole thing to work, you need effective ads, because the web opt-in model doesn’t work for everyone.”
“It’s really about how we create a web that works for everyone. What we do is try to make sure that you can have high-performance, privacy-safe ads that work for the user and the advertiser — and we’re optimistic about that.”
FLoC, Themes and Android
Google first launched the Privacy Sandbox initiative in 2019, in recognition of the fact that the system underlying its lucrative advertising activity (powered by third-party cookies that track people across the web) creates opportunities for privacy violations.
Like any technology, cookies are neither good nor bad. “It’s just the way it’s used,” Britten said. “The reason we need to stay away from them is because they are increasingly being used in ways that irritate consumers.”
The goal is to develop a set of new systems and technologies that perform the same role as cookies, allowing advertisers to target Internet users who are most likely to interact with their products, but without compromising user privacy to the same degree.
So far, achieving this goal has proven to be as difficult as it sounds. first suggestion, flukewidely used by privacy advocates, who order rejected swift hand.
In January, Google announced that it would replace FLoC for a similar system called Threads, which provides a way to display ads based on general interest categories. The system relies on three weeks of browsing data, stored locally on the device, to put people into a variety of different groups, which in turn determine the types of ads a person will receive. Web users can opt out of any particular “topic” at any time via their sites internet browser.
despite of Continuing criticismTopics appears to be the system that Google will continue to pursue as it moves forward with plans to leave third-party cookies behind. Currently, Topics is in trial, along with a number of separate APIs developed under the Privacy Sandbox initiative.
Google too recently announced It will expand the Privacy Sandbox to Android, phasing out advertising ID (a tracking system similar to third-party cookies) in favor of alternatives that limit the sharing of user data with third parties and do not rely on cross-app tracking.
The deadline to eliminate cookies was recently Pay for retreat To the second half of 2024, to give industry stakeholders additional time to prepare, a similar date has been set for moving away from advertising ID on Android.
The free and open web
Google’s usual response to criticism of its efforts has been that targeted advertising is critical to keeping the web free and open. Without the ability to effectively target ads, a fee must be paid for content and services that are currently freely available to remain economically viable for the provider, the argument goes.
In response to questions from Pro radar technology About criticism from privacy advocates, some of whom are calling for regulators to ban targeted ads entirely, Britten followed suit, citing Numbers from IAB (Opens in a new tab) Which suggests that such a ban would wipe up to $39 billion from the publishing market.
“If you want a website at an affordable cost, advertisers need to reach users. If you don’t want to advertise, this is the world of ad blockers and companies developing technologies that allow people to block everything, but this is a sledgehammer that destroys the funding model for original content.”
“Objecting to relevant advertising is different from objecting to personal data being used in ways that people have not agreed to – and here we defend our approach very strongly. We try to give consumers the protection they want, as well as useful and relevant advertising.”
Britten, who worked in publishing before joining Google, acknowledged the potential for new monetization models that would allow publishers to fund their content without relying on targeted advertising. For example, under a system based on micropayments, users will pay small amounts for each piece of content they access, rather than expensive subscriptions that exclude people from the information market. But I pointed out that there are problems with this premise as well.
“Micro payments is something that hasn’t really worked on the web. The challenge for publishers out there is that they are currently monetizing the audience in aggregate, but if [stories are each earning a few cents per view]What is the incentive for journalists to work under the umbrella of publications? “You’ll end up with more news fragmentation,” Britten said.
When asked if Google would consider switching from targeted advertising to contextual advertising in the name of privacy, if a powerful new monetization model emerged, Brittin refused to be painted.
He said, “Let’s see if we get this technology.” Pro radar technology. “[In a few years’ time]I hope we see an open and affordable web, enjoyed by nearly everyone on the planet, and that we see companies able to grow more and more through privacy-safe advertising.”
