A few weeks ago, I talked about the impact of Apple’s privacy updates on Facebook’s business model. Now, Google has announced it will do something similar on Android.
I wonder what will happen. Unlike Apple, Google actually sells ads. If it blocks third parties from tracking users across apps and across platforms, then it will have created a monopoly on targeted ads. Using its dominant position on the web (as a search engine, and with Chrome the dominant browser), and on mobile (and the mobile web, circumventing Apple’s efforts), it will be able to offer a very valuable platform for advertisers.
That begs the question: is Google really following Apple’s “privacy focus” for privacy reasons, or to solidify its position on the advertising market? I’d go with the latter.
Advertising has also been widely used to spread misinformation, or colloquially “fake news”. We now see big tech pull all its advertising business from the Russian market.