Alphabet-owned Google said today (16 February) that it is working on new measures to address ad-related data privacy concerns on its Android OS for smartphones but promised to not make them as ‘blunt’ as other moves, such as those by Apple.

Last April, Apple introduced new privacy updates on iOS that require companies reliant on ad tracking to ask for user consent before collecting their data. By late 2021, it was estimated that the update cost Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and YouTube nearly $10bn in revenue.

Anthony Chavez, Google VP of product management, claimed in a blog post announcing the measures, known as privacy sandbox, that moves such as Apple’s are proving ineffective and can “lead to worse outcomes for user privacy and developer businesses”.

“Our goal with the privacy sandbox on Android is to develop effective and privacy enhancing advertising solutions, where users know their information is protected, and developers and businesses have the tools to succeed on mobile,” he wrote.

While Google is designing and testing the new tools, it said that existing ads platform features would stay in place for at least two years, and that the search giant “will provide substantial notice ahead of any future changes”.

Meta said in its most recent earnings calls that privacy changes by Apple has adversely impacted the ad businesses of its social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. The company has been very vocal in its criticism of Apple’s privacy changes, and Google aims to lay a softer blow, so to speak, to ad-reliant businesses.

Google’s move is part of a broader move away from ad-tracking and third-party cookies, generally looked down upon by regulators and the public alike, as it proposed a new interest-based advertising tool last month for its Chrome OS.

The revised privacy sandbox plans to remove third-party cookies from its browser received the green light from the UK competition authority last week, as it said it would keep a ‘close eye’ on Google.

Earlier in the week, a group of major publishers filed an antitrust complaint with the EU against Google relating to its adtech “stranglehold” over press publishers and related businesses, asking it to impose remedies to restore conditions of effective competition in the adtech value chain.

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