Regulatory scrutiny of cookie-less adtech continues to be one of Google’s topics

Entertainment Law Review, Issue 5, March 2022

The use of third-party cookies in digital marketing has come under regulatory scrutiny for allowing advertisers to collect vast amounts of data about individuals. Google’s Privacy Sandbox initiative, which includes the Topics service, aims to offer a solution for a cookie-less future while protecting consumers and supporting a competitive ad-funded web. However, concerns have been raised about the dominance of Google and Facebook in online advertising and the need for greater competition and transparency. The ICO has emphasized the need for data protection standards to prevent overpowering individual rights and freedoms when monetizing data and warns against preserving the intrusive profiling and status quo by new means.