Photographer: Toru Hanai / Bloomberg
Photographer: Toru Hanai / Bloomberg
Google is exploring an alternative to Apple Inc.’s new anti-tracking feature, the latest sign that the Internet industry is slowly embracing user privacy, according to people familiar with the matter.
Internally, the search giant is discussing how it can limit data collection and cross-application tracking on the Android operating system in a way that is less rigorous than Apple’s solution, people said, who asked not to be identified discussing plans private.
Google is trying to balance the growing demands of privacy-conscious consumers with the financial needs of developers and advertisers. The Alphabet Inc.’s facility is seeking information from these stakeholders, similar to how it is slowly developing a new privacy standard for web browsing called the privacy sandbox.
With more than $ 100 billion in annual sales of digital ads, Google is interested in helping partners continue to generate revenue, targeting ads to users of Android devices and measuring the performance of these marketing spots.
“We are always looking for ways to work with developers to raise the level of privacy and, at the same time, enable a healthy and ad-supported application ecosystem,” a Google spokesman said in a statement.
In an upcoming software update for iPhones and iPads, called iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5, Apple is adding a new feature called App Tracking Transparency. The tool allows consumers to choose whether apps can collect data about them from other apps and websites. The impending shift has shaken the digital advertising industry. Facebook Inc. and other companies have complained that the feature will limit their ability to serve personalized ads effectively and generate revenue.
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A Google solution is likely to be less rigid and will not require a request to activate data tracking like Apple’s, people said. The exploration of an Android alternative to the Apple feature is still in its early stages, and Google has not decided when, or if, it will move forward with the changes.
On the iPhone, Google offers developers a framework so that they can monetize their apps using Google ads. In a recent blog post, Google said that updating Apple’s ad tracking means that developers “can see a significant impact” on their ad revenue.
To keep advertisers happy and at the same time improve privacy, discussions around Google’s Android solution indicate that it could be similar to the planned changes to the Chrome browser, people said. The company said in 2020 that it intended to eliminate third-party cookies in Chrome within two years. Google reaffirmed that plan earlier this year. Cookies are a way for websites to track users on the web to serve more personalized ads.
The Google web alternative, known as the Privacy Sandbox, allows for some ad targeting with less specific data collection. As part of this solution, the company developed a technology called Federated cohort learning that allows advertisers to target groups of people with similar interests, rather than individuals. Google is likely to take a similar approach with Android.