Big Tech’s privacy promise to consumers could be good news — and also bad news
It remains to be seen whether Google’s Privacy Sandbox project will be truly privacy-preserving. (Reuters Illustration: Francois Lenoir)
Rajat Kathuria, Isha Suri write: Its use as a tool for market development must balance consumer protection, innovation, and competition.
In February, Facebook, rebranded as Meta, stated that its revenue in 2022 is anticipated to reduce by $10 billion due to steps undertaken by Apple to enhance user privacy on its mobile operating system. More specifically, Meta attributed this loss to a new AppTrackingTransparency feature that requires apps to request permission from users before tracking them across other apps and websites or sharing their information with and from third parties. Through this change, Apple effectively shut the door on “permissionless” internet tracking and has given consumers more control over how their data is used. Meta alleged that this would hurt small businesses benefiting from access to targeted advertising services and charged Apple with abusing its market power by using its app store to disadvantage competitors under the garb of enhancing user privacy.
Access the full article published in the Indian Express on April 13, 2022
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