Google is adopting new privacy restrictions that limit tracking across apps on its Android operating system, following a similar move by Apple last year. Google’s measures however, may not be as disruptive as Apple’s, which disrupted advertising revenues of several firms, most notably Meta (formerly Facebook). What are Google’s new privacy restrictions on Android? The company has announced a multi-year initiative to build a ‘Privacy Sandbox’ on Android to introduce “more private advertising solutions”. Specifically, these features will “limit” sharing of user data with third parties and operate without cross-app identifiers, including advertising ID, the company said. The advertising ID is a unique, user-resettable ID for advertising, provided by Google Play services. “We’re also exploring technologies that reduce the potential for covert data collection, including safer ways for apps to integrate with advertising SDKs (software development kits),” Google said. How is Google’s system different from Apple’s? Apple announced last year that iPhone users will see an option upon opening apps where they will have the option to allow or disallow an app to track them. The change has had a profound impact on Internet companies that rely on revenue from advertisements, with Meta saying earlier this month that Apple’s new privacy system was “negatively impacting” its business. In fact, Meta expects that the change could cost the company $10 billion in lost sales this year. Google has hinted that it will not go down Apple’s route. “We realise that other platforms have taken a different approach to ads privacy, bluntly restricting existing technologies used by developers and advertisers,” the company said – a potential reference to Apple’s app tracking system. However, Google said that “such approaches can be ineffective and lead to worse outcomes for user privacy and developer businesses”. It is also worth noting that as Google designs its new solutions, it will support existing ads platform features for at least two years, meaning that at least for the next two years, it will be status quo for cross app tracking of users via the advertising ID on Android. Newsletter | Click to get the day's best explainers in your inbox
