So if Google can hash out a set of rules that are accepted by one (fairly) major market, because they’ve been co-designed with national oversight bodies, and then scale those rules everywhere, it may create a shortcut path to avoiding any more regulator-enforced bumps in the future. It may be there in part as an added sweetener - nudging the CMA to accept the offer so it can feel like a global standard-setter.Īt the same time, businesses do love operational certainty. competition intervention into a global commitment is itself very interesting. That Google is choosing to offer to turn a U.K. (The European Union is also working on new rules for how platform giants can operate but the CMA’s intervention on Privacy Sandbox does not yet have a direct equivalent in Brussels.) in a position to be taking key decisions about the rules for global digital advertising. It’s perhaps one slightly unexpected twist of Brexit that it’s put the U.K. In a blog post sketching what it’s pledged - under three broad headlines of “Consultation and collaboration” “No data advertising advantage for Google products” and “No self-preferencing” - Google writes that if the CMA accepts its commitments it will “apply them globally”, making the U.K.’s intervention potentially hugely significant.

If accepted, the commitments we have obtained from Google become legally binding, promoting competition in digital markets, helping to protect the ability of online publishers to raise money through advertising and safeguarding users’ privacy. That’s why the CMA is taking a leading role in setting out how we can work with the most powerful tech firms to shape their behaviour and protect competition to the benefit of consumers. The emergence of tech giants such as Google has presented competition authorities around the world with new challenges that require a new approach. It’s now opened a consultation to see if the industry agrees - with the feedback line open until July 8.Ĭommenting in a statement, Andrea Coscelli, the CMA’s chief executive, said: However, the CMA said today it takes the “provisional” view that the set of commitments Google has offered will address competition concerns related to its proposals.

It follows that the watchdog could also block Google’s wider “Privacy Sandbox” technology transition entirely - if it decides the shift cannot be done in a way that doesn’t harm competition. The CMA could also reopen a fuller investigation if it’s not happy with how things are looking at the point it orders any standstill to stop Google crushing tracking cookies. The regulator will have the power to order a standstill of at least 60 days on any move by Google to remove support for cookies from Chrome if it accepts a set of legally binding commitments the latter has offered - and which the regulator has today issued a notification of intention to accept.

The development follows an investigation opened by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) into Google’s self-styled “Privacy Sandbox” earlier this year. The U.K.’s competition regulator looks set to get an emergency brake that will allow it to stop Google ending support for third-party cookies, a technology that’s currently used for targeting online ads, if it believes competition would be harmed by the depreciation going ahead.

Cma tracking