In recent years, discussions about online privacy have grown louder and louder. We saw the EU implement its comprehensive General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018, and since then, many of the world’s largest technology companies have come under the spotlight for how they use data.
Google has decided to contribute toward a more private web browsing experience with its Privacy Sandbox initiative. But what exactly is it, and why is it important for affiliates to know what it is and how it works?
Let’s find out…
What Is Privacy Sandbox?
Privacy Sandbox was introduced in the summer of 2019 by Google, and it has been met with both positive and negative responses. In essence, the initiative will facilitate online advertising – but it will do so without third-party cookies being involved.
The Privacy Sandbox initiative will roll out on both Android devices and web browsers, meaning that it will impact a huge percentage of internet users. It went live on Android in February 2022 with a web browser set to follow shortly.
Why Is Google Introducing Privacy Sandbox?
In simple terms, Google is introducing Privacy Sandbox because it wants to change standards in web practices and how users’ information is used. As the company says on the initiative’s dedicated website:
“The Privacy Sandbox initiative aims to create technologies that both protect people’s privacy online and give companies and developers tools to build thriving digital businesses. The Privacy Sandbox reduces cross-site and cross-app tracking while helping to keep online content and services free for all.”
As you can see from the above, Google claims that it doesn’t want to impact companies’ growth and is looking for more of a balance between that and user protection. Since Privacy Sandbox is still in the early days, however, we’ll need to see how that pans out.
What Should Affiliates Be Aware Of?
Considering that Google is one of the largest internet companies on the planet and the search engine that publishers value the most, it’s needless to say that Privacy Sandbox is of huge interest to affiliates. To ensure that you survive in this new era, you must keep several things in mind.
First and foremost, you won’t be able to track users in many of the ways that you might currently do. For example, certain tools – like fingerprinting – will be blocked from providing information to advertisers about users.
Despite many tracking mechanisms being made obsolete by the changes, affiliates should remember that they will get new ways to find out about user behaviours across their sites. Google says that it will utilize several other tracking features to help you continue growing your business.
What about the transition period, though? The good news is that you still have plenty of time to adapt and prepare for these upcoming changes.
Google is still in the discussion and testing phases, with the transition stage expected to begin from the start of 2023. In the meantime, you should begin looking at how you can get the information you need without compromising on user privacy.