{"id":97377,"date":"2025-05-02T10:51:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T08:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=97377"},"modified":"2025-05-02T10:51:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T08:51:19","slug":"google-hits-pause-on-cookie-phase-out-amid-global-antitrust-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/google-hits-pause-on-cookie-phase-out-amid-global-antitrust-pressure\/","title":{"rendered":"Google hits pause on cookie phase-out amid global antitrust pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sameera Casmod | sameerac@radioislam.co.za<\/a>
\n2 May 2025 | 10:51 CAT
\n2-minute read<\/p>\n

\"\"

Image: Harvest Digital<\/p><\/div>\n

On April 17, 2025, a US antitrust ruling found Google liable for illegally monopolising digital advertising, particularly in the open-web display publisher ad server market.\u00a0The judge, Leonie Brinkema, ruled that Google had “wilfully engaged in a series of anticompetitive acts” to achieve this dominance, citing the harm to publishing customers, competition, and consumers.<\/p>\n

The ruling is part of a broader push to regulate tech giants, and Google has stated its intention to appeal.\u00a0The US Department of Justice is seeking remedies, including potential divestiture of parts of Google’s ad tech business.<\/p>\n

Now, Google has quietly delayed one of its most controversial strategies: the phase-out of third-party cookies through its Privacy Sandbox.<\/p>\n

The move, subtle in Google\u2019s corporate speak, has rippled across the digital advertising world. Third-party cookies\u2014tiny data packets placed on a user\u2019s device by websites other than the one being visited\u2014have long been used to track browsing habits and target advertising. While Google had promised a more privacy-friendly replacement, critics argued that its proposed Privacy Sandbox would, in fact, deepen Google\u2019s dominance.<\/p>\n

South African tech analyst and founder of World Wide Worx, Arthur Goldstuck, unpacked the implications in an interview this week. Explaining the purpose of third-party cookies, he said, \u201cIt\u2019s an invasion of your privacy because it tends to know more than you would like it to know in most cases.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goldstuck noted that although Google\u2019s stated aim was to improve privacy, the underlying motivation remained profit-driven. \u201cIn reality, it was more about Google being able to target better and, in fact, find out even more about the user.\u201d<\/p>\n

The delay in Google\u2019s plans came swiftly after a damning US court decision. Regulators across the world have increasingly scrutinised Big Tech\u2019s grip on user data and online advertising. The United Kingdom\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority, for instance, recently ruled that Google\u2019s Privacy Sandbox granted it excessive control. South Africa\u2019s Competition Commission has also launched investigations into the power online platforms wield over the local digital ad space.<\/p>\n

Goldstuck believes Google\u2019s retreat is anything but coincidental. \u201cGoogle is trying to pretend that they are on the side of the advocates of privacy, and they never have been. And they\u2019re not going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Google has justified the delay by citing \u201cdivergent perspectives\u201d within the advertising industry, critics say the company is simply stalling the inevitable. With rising global momentum toward first-party data collection\u2014where businesses interact directly with customers rather than through intermediaries like Google\u2014the old model of targeted advertising may be nearing its end.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cookie will crumble eventually,\u201d said Goldstuck. But for now, it seems the world\u2019s most dominant search engine is buying time in an increasingly regulated digital future.<\/p>\n

Listen <\/strong>to the full interview<\/a> on Sabaahul Muslim with Moulana Junaid Kharsany.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sameera Casmod | sameerac@radioislam.co.za 2 May 2025 | 10:51 CAT 2-minute read On April 17, 2025, a US antitrust ruling found Google liable for illegally monopolising digital advertising, particularly in the open-web display publisher ad server market.\u00a0The judge, Leonie Brinkema, ruled that Google had “wilfully engaged in a series of anticompetitive acts” to achieve this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":97378,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,4997],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-world"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Screenshot-2025-05-02-104431.png?fit=496%2C267&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-pkB","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-24 11:47:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}