![Online privacy and profit clash with fortunes at stake](https://www.portugalcolonial.pt/media/shared/articles/3c/34/34/Online-privacy-and-profit-clash-wit-479937.jpg)
-
'Windmill love' sees Dutch artist become mill operator
-
US defends law forcing sale of TikTok app
-
Messi out for defending champ Miami as Leagues Cup begins
-
Australia bans uranium mining at Indigenous site
-
Divers attempt to reach sunken Philippine oil tanker
-
Trump accuses Harris of anti-Semitism in overblown speech
-
Coughlin clings to lead at LPGA Canadian Women's Open
-
Trump offers tech sector policy flips ahead of election
-
Spacecraft to swing by Earth, Moon on path to Jupiter
-
What's the fallout of Mexican drug lords' capture?
-
Video game makers see actors as AI 'data,' says union on strike
-
Chinese qualifier Shang to face Thompson in ATP Atlanta semis
-
'Massive attack' on French rail threatens more chaos
-
'We did it!': France breathes sigh of relief after Olympics ceremony
-
Regional concern grows as Venezuela blocks vote observers
-
Historic river parade, Dion show-stopper ignite Paris Olympics
-
Rainy Paris Olympic parade dampens many spectators' spirits
-
The one of a kind Paris opening ceremony: five memorable moments
-
Justin Timberlake seeks to dismiss DUI case
-
Warner Brothers Discovery sues NBA over Amazon rights deal
-
Kobe Bryant locker, Maradona jersey up for auction in New York
-
Historic river parade launches Paris Olympics
-
New York family of Holocaust victim reclaims Nazi-looted art
-
NASA Mars rover captures rock that could hold fossilized microbes
-
Thousands evacuate season's biggest wildfire in northern California
-
Ethiopia mourns victims of landslide tragedy
-
Lady Gaga adds sparkle to star-studded Olympic show
-
Airbus and Boeing supremacy secure despite turbulence
-
Teams sail down Seine in rain-soaked Olympics opening ceremony
-
West Indies' treble strike rocks England in third Test
-
Olympic opening ceremony under way on River Seine
-
Mott's England future uncertain as ECB chief fails to offer support
-
Trump meets Israeli PM Netanyahu in Florida
-
S.African police say 95 Libyans detained at suspected military camp
-
Blinken set for talks with Chinese counterpart in Laos
-
Norris heads Piastri in McLaren one-two at Belgian GP practice
-
G20 seeks common ground on taxing super-rich
-
European medicines watchdog rejects new Alzheimer's drug
-
Habib, Ebden eye Alcaraz and Djokovic shocks at Olympics tennis
-
Long queues, ticketing problems ahead of Paris opening ceremony
-
Two Sinaloa Cartel leaders face US charges after stunning capture
-
Spain train driver jailed for 2.5 years over deadly 2013 crash
-
Paris poised for Olympic opening ceremony spectacular
-
Judoka fails doping test in first case at Paris Olympics
-
Holder and Da Silva keep England at bay after West Indies collapse
-
Alpine F1 boss Bruno Famin to leave in August
-
Ethiopia declares three days of mourning after landslide tragedy
-
Brazilian dunes dotted with dazzling pools make UNESCO heritage list
-
Rain, cooling slow huge blaze in Canada's Jasper park
-
French Rugby's Jaminet suspended 34 weeks after racist video: Federation
![Online privacy and profit clash with fortunes at stake](https://www.portugalcolonial.pt/media/shared/articles/3c/34/34/Online-privacy-and-profit-clash-wit-479937.jpg)
Online privacy and profit clash with fortunes at stake
Facebook and Google are under growing pressure to better balance privacy and ad-targeting -- with their fortunes at stake as users rebel, regulators loom and Apple pounces on the moment to polish its image.
At the heart of the issue is how much internet companies should know about people's online lives, a flow of data that is key to the many billions Big Tech makes on ads each year.
The firms have faced steadily stricter rules since the EU passed a massive data privacy law in 2018 that, among other regulations, requires firms to seek direct consent of users before installing cookies on their computers.
But new pressure is building due to advancing landmark European legislation that could set unprecedented oversight on Big Tech, and Silicon Valley giants are targeted by a tangle of US official probes and lawsuits.
"They are really between a rock and a hard place. Their entire business model is under threat," analyst Rob Enderle said of the threat to Meta and Alphabet, the parent companies of Facebook and Google, respectively.
One of the battlegrounds is the use of so-called "third-party cookies," software snippets that track users' online behavior, and which have been portrayed as villains in a "surveillance advertising" scheme considered downright creepy.
Google has pledged to replace that technology, but critics have voiced worry that its proposed changes could just mean less data transmitted to third-parties while the internet giant would continue to amass detailed info from people who use its ubiquitous services.
For its part, Apple announced last year that users of its one billion iPhones in circulation can decide whether to allow their online activity to be tracked for the purpose of tageting ads -- a change which it said shows its focus is on privacy but which critics note does not prevent the company itself from tracking.
Meta expects that policy, which impacts the precision of the ads it sells and thus their price, to cost the social media giant $10 billion in lost revenue this year.
- 'Creepiness factor' -
That news contributed to questions about the firm's long-term prospects, prompting a historic plummet of the company's value in recent weeks.
Still, the social media firm is exploring ad-targeting technology that would keep users' data "locally on their device rather than sending individual data to a remote server or cloud," Meta marketing executive Graham Mudd wrote in a post.
Analyst Enderle believes that Facebook could thus circumvent the Apple software change and regain some of that lost ad revenue.
"Apple views Google and Facebook as competitors, so they are much less likely to make it easy for either firm," he added.
US pressure on tech companies has increased on privacy and antitrust fronts, especially after the Facebook whistleblower scandal last year boosted regulation efforts long-stalled by sharp partisan divides.
In the absence of action from the federal government, states have launched their own lawsuits.
In one such complaint filed in January, multiple states accuse Google of tracking users' location data despite leading consumers to believe they could protect their privacy on the tech giant's services.
Whatever changes tech firms may make, watchdogs question the model of big online services funded with advertising and users' data.
"I think behavioral ads are just bad for society," said Electronic Frontier Foundation staff technologist Bennett Cyphers.
"Negative side effects are not just people's privacy being violated -- it has allowed some of the most toxic elements of the internet today to flourish, because it is all about eyeballs."
He cited problems of "click bait garbage," plagiarism, misinformation and inflammatory content that make money from ad impressions.
As an alternative, he said ads can be served up based on context -- auto commercials on a car news website, for example.
From the industry's perspective, the process of finding a better system is ongoing, as is managing the general public's perception of the online advertising business.
"There is huge concern by people and government officials regarding how cookies are being used," said Angelina Eng, vice president of industry group Interactive Advertising Bureau.
"We just haven't found the right balance yet because there are several bad actors out there creating this creepiness factor," she added.
F.Ferraz--PC