FTC asked to investigate Google and Apple in regards to ad-related tracking
You may have heard that last year, Apple introduced something called App Tracking Transparency which provided iPhone and iPad users with the possibility to opt out of ad-related tracking. The action, criticized vocally by Facebook at the time proved to cost the social media platform quite a large sum of money and even caused Meta’s shares to plummet. But it seems that four lawmakers still want the FTC to investigate Apple, as well as Google. Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.), and Rep. Sara Jacobs (D., Calif.), have sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)’s chair Lina Khan, requesting an investigation on the two tech giants. The lawmakers claim the two companies have “knowingly facilitated” the harmful practices of collecting and selling user data “by building advertising-specific tracking IDs into their mobile operating systems”. Both Apple and Google have taken steps previously to give users more privacy options. As we already mentioned above, Apple introduced App Tracking Transparency last year with iOS 14.5, while Google is planning to introduce new privacy restrictions on Android too.
Although the letter acknowledges this, it underlines that until recently the tracking ID on Apple devices was on by default and the option to opt-out was hard to find by customers, while Google didn’t even have an opt-out option until recently and it still enables tracking by default.
A Google spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that the company doesn’t sell user data and that such actions by developers are prohibited. Google also said that the advertising ID was created to give users more control and developers a more private way to monetize their apps.
As you may know, identifiers, or tracking IDs, are used so you can get targeted ads. And although those identifiers are anonymous, the letter highlights that they can easily be traced back to the individuals who own the phones associated with them.
It is often possible to easily identify a particular consumer in a dataset of ‘anonymous’ location records by looking to see where they sleep at night.
It is still unclear whether the FTC will launch the investigation as requested by the four lawmakers.
