UK market watchdog begins investigation into Google’s Privacy Sandbox initiative
British authorities to investigate Google’s plan to block third-party cookies. The trade watchdog in the country is going to look at whether Google does not receive a lot of advertising revenue as a result. The investigation comes after complaints from the advertising industry.
The research is being conducted by the Competition and Markets Authority or CMA in the United Kingdom. The investigation announced this on Friday. The CMA is looking specifically at a new program from Google called Privacy Sandbox. Google already announced this in 2019.
Privacy Sandbox consists of several parts, such as an api that can measure conversion. Google says the goal of that program is to “create a secure personalization environment that protects users’ privacy.” As a result, Google plans to remove all support for third-party cookies from Chrome and Chromium software by 2022.
The British CMA is now investigating whether that will lead to even more ad spend directly to Google. The agency previously conducted a preliminary investigation and concluded that there were potential risks to Google’s plan. This could make it more difficult for publishers to make a profit and Google could gain a dominant position in the advertising market.
The regulator has previously spoken with, among others, the privacy watchdog in the UK to see how companies like Google can allay privacy concerns without disrupting the market. We also spoke with Google. Google hasn’t finalized plans for Privacy Sandbox yet, and the CMA sees the current investigation as a continuation of those talks with the tech giant. “The current research should provide a framework for continuing this work and potentially build a legal basis for a potential solution.”
The watchdog is mainly conducting the investigation after complaints from the interest group Marketers for an Open Web. That is a group of newspaper publishers who fear that Google is using Privacy Sandbox to increase its power.
Google confirms to Engadget that it is working with the CMA for the investigation. “The industry needs to make major changes to the way it uses digital advertising if it is to make the web more private while supporting the free and open internet,” the company said.