After the iPhone shock, the online advertising industry has to adapt to the new rules of the game for smartphones with the Android operating system. Google, the Android developer, announced Wednesday privacy-enhancing measures to be developed in the coming years.
The basis for the previous business with online advertising on smartphones was an identification number, with the help of which the advertising industry could collect information about the interests of a user and play personalized ads for him.
But last year, Apple dealt the model a serious blow: App providers must now explicitly ask iPhone users for permission if they want to track their behavior across different apps and services. Many people reject this. The Facebook group Meta, among others, felt the effects and recently estimated that the new Apple rules could reduce sales by ten billion dollars this year.
Google has now announced that, on the one hand, the sharing of user information with third parties – such as data dealers in the advertising industry – should be restricted. They also want to find solutions that do without the previous advertising ID for data collection across different apps.
At the same time, Google – without naming Apple – distanced itself from the iPhone group’s approach. According to a blog entry, other platforms had “harshly” restricted previous mechanisms. Without an alternative solution, this would be inefficient and bad for the protection of privacy and the app developer’s business. Instead, Google wants to support today’s features for at least two years while working on new solutions.
