Even the CMA doesn’t seem to care about the Privacy Sandbox anymore.
On Friday, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it has begun the process of “releasing” Google from its Privacy Sandbox commitments.
The CMA aims to disentangle itself entirely from the Sandbox project by sometime later this year.
The news isn’t all that surprising now that Google no longer plans to deprecate third-party cookies in Chrome. Google’s reversal nullifies the concern that the Privacy Sandbox APIs would give it an unfair competitive advantage over third-party ad tech companies if cookies were eliminated.
“Protections secured by the CMA are no longer needed after Google stepped back from plans which could have favoured its business in [the] multi-billion-pound online advertising sector,” the CMA wrote in a post on its site.
(Keeping the “u” in “favoured” in that quote and the reference to pounds for British-related funsies.)
Sandbox rewind
The CMA has closely scrutinized Google’s Privacy Sandbox proposals since 2021 for potential anti-competitive issues that would affect the digital advertising market.
Google then made a series of legally binding commitments to the CMA, which the regulator accepted in February 2022. Those commitments included a guarantee that Chrome wouldn’t design the Privacy Sandbox tools in a way that advantages Google’s advertising business and that it would transparently document how the APIs are developed and implemented.
Google also committed to filing quarterly reports to the CMA outlining its progress on the Sandbox proposals, as well as updated timing expectations and explanations of how it considers third-party feedback.
Third parties were encouraged by the CMA to provide feedback on Google’s reports, and the CMA itself produced and published quarterly reports with its evaluations of Google’s compliance with its Privacy Sandbox commitments.
Basically, a lot of people were writing a lot of reports.
And now, the CMA needs to write one more if it wants to get out of the Sandbox.
Don’t wanna play anymore
In order to release Google from its commitments, the CMA has to initiate a consultation, which is a structured process whereby the CMA seeks input from interested parties, like businesses, industry groups and the public, on any proposed policies, guidance or regulatory changes.
Once all of the responses are in, the CMA will make its decision and publish a report that includes a summary of the feedback, who it came from and how the CMA addressed the comments and suggestions.
The CMA is asking “anyone with an interest in this work” to submit their feedback by July 4 at 11:55 pm (presumably British Summer Time).
Guess that’s one way to celebrate Independence Day.
It’s worth noting, though, that even if the CMA frees Google from its Privacy Sandbox commitments, the regulator isn’t giving the Sandbox its blessing. If Google’s Privacy Sandbox initiative creates new competition concerns in the future, the CMA can step in again using its powers under the EU’s Digital Markets Act and the UK’s Competition Act of 1998.
