Google will no longer allow users of its services to be profiled individually for advertising purposes. The tech giant’s announcement follows that of early 2020, when it announced its intention to stop using i third party cookies – online tracking systems that we more or less knowingly accept when we end up on a site – on Chrome. Behind these moves, there is the choice of meeting the growing demand for privacy by people who surf the web. The feeling of not having total control over one’s information is in fact destroying the trust in technology companies.
But what will this decision impact on users? Those who use Google services, starting with their browser, should see advertisements that are less geared to their interests. This is because the exploitation of those cookies that store user activity will no longer be allowed, including that saved in the history of the pages viewed. This information usually ends up in the hands of third-party companies – advertisers – who use it to create a profile and show up on the sites they visit. hyper-personalized advertising. And for this more profitable for those who offer those spaces. This system has become so refined that it has increased people’s distrust.
Google, as well as Facebook, Amazon and many other companies in the sector, have earned billions of euros in recent years thanks to this practice. Now the Mountain View company tries to change course with a new mechanism: it will be called Privacy Sandbox and it will be a stricter filter of the data flow that goes from Chrome to advertisers.
On the one hand, it should stop the transmission of search information and keep most of the personal data on the devices used. On the other hand, all this information should form a user profile. This identikit will not be shared with any external party, but will be inserted in large generic groups of profiles which have similar characteristics. The goal is to make the individual user more anonymous, confusing him in a homogeneous mass of profiles and making his identification more difficult.
It will be on these sets of information that advertisers will have to base their ads. It does not therefore mean that Google will stop tracking us, but that it will do it differently. To understand if this compromise attempt between profit and privacy will really be less invasive, we will have to wait for its implementation. The first tests are scheduled for this spring. “This – explains the tech giant – aims for a future where there will be no need to sacrifice relevant advertising and monetization in order to offer a private and secure experience “.
