Hello everyone and welcome to ZD Tech, ZDNet’s daily editorial podcast. My name is Guillaume Serries and today I will explain to you how France made Google bend on the issue of refusing cookies.
It is a real revolution in the world of digital data trading. Since the implementation of the GDPR, the European regulation on the protection of personal data, in 2018, website publishers must request the consent of Internet users with regard to the collection and use of their data for marketing, commercial, or statistics.
A double blow for many site managers, and even for web giants like Google.
Yes, a double blow since on the one hand, this provision has made the use of personal data by websites legible for monetization purposes. Because until then, the traffic in this digital gold was completely invisible to Internet users who were happily surprised at the free services they accessed online.
Obtaining this consent has made browsing the web tedious
On the other hand, the collection of this consent has made browsing the web tedious. Because yes, the consultation of each new website is subject to the crossing of a CMP, called Content Management Platform.
Clearly, it is up to you to say each time whether or not you authorize the collection and use of your personal data by the publishers of websites.
Their economic model being threatened, the publishers have above all chosen to tack for four years with the instructions of the CNIL, by refusing for a long time to Internet users the choice to refuse cookies en bloc.
It will now be possible to refuse the use of cookies with a single click
Google, yes, the one they say “if it’s free, you’re the product”, was one of those who played with the rule the longest.
Until his conviction last January to a heavy fine of 150 million euros in France. A fine intended to sanction this practice.
Well, it seems that Google has understood the lesson. It will now be possible to refuse the use of “cookies” for targeted advertising and content personalization with a single click, the web giant announced yesterday Thursday.
“We have carried out a complete overhaul of our approach, in particular by modifying the infrastructure that we use to manage cookies”, writes the American giant in a blog post.
Facebook, which had also been fined 60 million euros, now displays a button to allow “only essential cookies”.
The CNIL recently indicated that it had sent around 90 formal notices on this point to website publishers since the end of its tolerance period.
Google’s CMP update has started rolling out in France, on YouTube, and will gradually roll out to all of its platforms in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland.