On Feb. 16, Google announced that the company’s Android phones will phase out cross-app ad trackers in a change aimed at increasing data privacy for consumers using its operating systems. This change follows Apple’s privacy changes last year, in a sign that radical changes are taking place in technological privacy.
Director of Product Management at Google Anthony Chavez sent out a statement introducing the Privacy Sandbox on Android. “Today, we’re announcing a multi-year initiative to build the Privacy Sandbox on Android, with the goal of introducing new, more private advertising solutions,” Chavez announced. “Specifically, these solutions will limit sharing of user data with third parties and operate without cross-app identifiers, including advertising ID.”
These are major changes that will alter advertising on mobile devices. Apple’s changes last year came with extensive effects on companies that sell mobile ads based on collected user data. These changes included major apps like Snapchat and Meta, who have millions of users worldwide.
Those changes led to Meta announcing earlier this month that Apple’s ad tracking changes will cost Meta $10 billion in ad revenue by the end of 2022. These weak revenue growth forecasts led to Meta’s stocks plunging.
Currently, Android device users are assigned special IDs that companies collecting user data for advertising use to build a behavioral profile and place targeted ads personalized for each individual. Google’s announcement said that the company will begin to phase out the ID system to develop a new advertising privacy-centered system that will limit sharing of user data with third party companies.
This is different from Apple’s changes, as Google stated that their privacy changes will not be as disruptive as Apple’s. Whereas Apple gave users full freedom in picking whether they wanted to block tracking on apps overnight, Google said that they would support current technologies for at least two more years. Google and Apple represent the two most influential and biggest smartphone softwares and those changes are undoubtedly going to sway privacy regulations for all companies.
This difference in approach is due to the fact that Apple generates most of its revenue from selling devices, but Google makes the bulk of its revenue from selling digital advertising. This makes Google more susceptible to paying attention to how changes may affect advertising companies.
For that reason, Google is allowing some advertisers to measure the performance of ad campaigns and show personalized ads based on past behavior or recent interests. The company also said that it would offer preview versions of the new changes to advertisers before releasing the complete version.
Chavez said in an interview that it was too early to gauge the potential effects that might result from Google’s changes, but he emphasized that the company’s goal was to explore private options for users while maintaining advertising revenue for developers.
These changes are seen as favorable by the majority of customers and policymakers, with users growing more suspicious about software data collection over the last few years due to a feeling of general distrust of technological companies.
This distrust comes after a series of whistleblower reports and SEC complaints alleging companies ignored research that their products were harmful targeting major software companies, namely Meta. There are likely going to be more investigations in the future looking into other companies’ data collection methods.
Limiting advertising companies’ access to our privacy is an integral step to ensure users’ rights. Software companies should follow Apple’s steps in giving people the freedom to pick whether they want their data shared with different apps, even if it comes at a cost for advertising companies.
