The level of cooperation from independent ad-tech players, publishers and even some media agencies to replace the third-party cookie with hashed email addresses had led to growing speculation that even Google would get behind the initiative.
However, today, Google stopped this idea dead in its tracks and released a policy update that will be seen as a setback for many in the industry.
Stern policy clarification
As we reported, in 2022, Google Chrome will withdraw support for third-party cookies, the connective tissue of digital advertising. The ad-tech industry has subsequently rallied behind alternative solutions initially based on hashed email addresses.
Today, Google issued a stern policy clarification curbing these alternatives, discarding efforts to make solutions such as Unified ID 2.0, now the ward of industry body Prebid, interoperable with offerings such as authentication tools from LiveRamp and others.
No alternate identifiers
David Temkin, Google’s director of product management, ads privacy and trust, made the company’s position clear in a blog post questioning the viability of Unified ID 2.0 in the Google ecosystem.
We will not build alternate identifiers to track individuals … nor will we use them in our products.
—David Temkin, director of product management, ads privacy and trust, Google
“We continue to get questions about whether Google will join others in the ad tech industry who plan to replace third-party cookies with alternative user-level identifiers,” Temkin wrote. “Today, we’re making explicit that once third-party cookies are phased out, we will not build alternate identifiers to track individuals as they browse across the web, nor will we use them in our products.”
The announcement is specific to Google’s advertiser and publisher products that previously used or offered third-party cookies. This includes demand-side platform DV360, ad platform Google Ads and AdSense. Alternate identifiers will not be supported across Google’s ad stack. Instead, Google’s stack will be powered by solutions from Privacy Sandbox.
The tech company has spoken with privacy-focused organizations such as the Centre for Information Policy Leadership and the Washington, D.C.-based Progressive Policy Institute about its plans for the future of privacy. It said it will continue working with stakeholders across the industry through Privacy Sandbox.
In the post, Temkin specifically goes on to call-out “PII graphs based on people’s email addresses,” and noted how Google will continue to engage with the rest of the industry by being “all in on the Privacy Sandbox.”
Rising consumer expectations for privacy
“We don’t believe these solutions will meet rising consumer expectations for privacy, nor will they stand up to rapidly evolving regulatory restrictions, and therefore aren’t a sustainable long-term investment,” he added. “Instead, our web products will be powered by privacy-preserving APIs which prevent individual tracking while still delivering results for advertisers and publishers.”
Google will continue to support first-party relationships on its ad platform for partners that have direct connections with customers. This means it’s likely data bunker solutions from companies like InfoSum will not be adversely impacted.
“We have long since recognized and advocated for the importance of first-party data, and it’ll become even more vital in a privacy-first world,” said Aude Gandon, global chief marketing officer at Nestlé, which was briefed by Google ahead of the announcement. “We welcome this announcement by Google and remain supportive of initiatives that improve user privacy in digital advertising,” Gandon told Adweek.
Read the full announcement below:
Privacy innovations are effective alternatives to tracking
People shouldn’t have to accept being tracked across the web in order to get the benefits of relevant advertising. And advertisers don’t need to track individual consumers across the web to get the performance benefits of digital advertising.
Advances in aggregation, anonymization, on-device processing and other privacy-preserving technologies offer a clear path to replacing individual identifiers. In fact, our latest tests of FLoC show one way to effectively take third-party cookies out of the advertising equation and instead hide individuals within large crowds of people with common interests. Chrome intends to make FLoC-based cohorts available for public testing through origin trials with its next release this month, and we expect to begin testing FLoC-based cohorts with advertisers in Google Ads in Q2.
This points to a future where there is no need to sacrifice relevant advertising and monetization in order to deliver a private and secure experience. That’s why we’re 100% committed to powering our web products with the Privacy Sandbox, and encourage the industry to continue partnering with us in developing and adopting these privacy innovations.
First-party relationships are vital
Developing strong relationships with customers has always been critical for brands to build a successful business, and this becomes even more vital in a privacy-first world. We will continue to support first-party relationships on our ad platforms for partners, in which they have direct connections with their own customers. And we’ll deepen our support for solutions that build on these direct relationships between consumers and the brands and publishers they engage with.
Keeping the internet open and accessible for everyone requires all of us to do more to protect privacy — and that means an end to not only third-party cookies, but also any technology used for tracking individual people as they browse the web. We remain committed to preserving a vibrant and open ecosystem where people can access a broad range of ad-supported content with confidence that their privacy and choices are respected. We look forward to working with others in the industry on the path forward.
