CMA’s involvement in Privacy Sandbox proposal is an outcome of enforcement action that it launched against Google
Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the competition regulator of United Kingdom (U.K.), has said that it will play a key role in Google’s “Privacy Sandbox” proposal, which aims to remove third-party cookies from its browser, ‘Chrome’, that track people online.
Web cookies are small pieces of code that websites deliver to a visitor’s browser. They can be used to track online activity, such as items added to a shopping basket. Third-party cookies are often added by advertisers to serve people with personalized ads.
The CMA is also concerned that the new plans will impact the newspapers and other businesses that rely on personalized ads. Google launched an initiative, “Privacy Sandbox” last year in a bid to address privacy concerns about cookies.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Executive Officer of CMA – Andrea Coscelli said, “If accepted, the commitments we have obtained from Google become legally binding, promoting competition in digital markets, helping to protect the ability of online publishers to raise money through advertising and safeguarding users’ privacy.”
Taking it to twitter, CMA tweeted,
🌐 We’ve secured commitments from #Google to address concerns about its proposal to remove third-party cookies from Chrome.
— Competition & Markets Authority (@CMAgovUK) June 11, 2021
Together with @ICOnews, we’ll assess the effectiveness of alternatives to third -party cookies being developed.
Read more ➡️ https://t.co/qftwhWzZEI pic.twitter.com/LJaBpyBDzu
The Legal Director of Google – Oliver Bethell said, “We appreciate the CMA’s thoughtful approach throughout the review and their engagement with the difficult trade-offs that this process inevitably involves.”
The objective of “Privacy sandbox” is to prevent tracking as the user browse the web, enable publishers to build sustainable sites that respect user privacy and preserve the vitality of the open web.
The CMA has collaborated with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for reviewing the Privacy Sandbox proposals. It will further work together with ICO to assess the effectiveness of alternatives to third party cookies being developed under the proposals.
CMA’s involvement in Privacy Sandbox proposal is an outcome of enforcement action that the CMA launched against Google in January 2021, when a lot of businesses objected against the tech giant’s plans of phasing out third-party cookies. CMA will now take into account the interest of all the stakeholders before deciding upon whether to accept Google’s proposal. If accepted, the watchdog would drop its enforcement case and engage with Google on the details of its proposals.
The latest development also highlights the fact that watchdogs are keeping a close watch on what United States (U.S.) based tech giants are doing. Besides, the Government of U.K. has also asked CMA to set up a new Digital Markets Unit to regulate competition in the U.K.’s internet market.
