Stricter privacy rules on targeted ads
Tech firms now need to ask users’ consent to share data fed into one service with another they operate. Meta has already started rolling out pop-ups for Facebook and Meta. It delayed the EU launch of its Threads social media service — designed to compete with X (formerly Twitter) — because it initially required users to sign up with a log-in from another of the company’s brands.
Google is asking users to choose which services they want to share their data with— and there are a lot: Search, YouTube, Ads, Google Play, Chrome, Google Shopping and Google Maps.
The search giant warns users that they may not like it since the experience will be “less personalized.” It means different platforms won’t always have the personal data to serve up the recommendations — and targeted advertising — they serve to users they know.
Choose-your-own app-venture
Big Tech will also have to clearly label what parts of their software are part of their own system, such as Microsoft Windows 11’s Camera and Photos apps. This aims to allow users to decide if they want to keep those or pick a rival service that does the same thing.
Google Android and Apple iPhone users should be able to pick their favorite browser from a choice screen to replace defaults supplied by the companies.
Search ads
Google’s search results will add a new “carousel” box featuring ads from price comparison sites when you search for a hotel. That mimics what European users already see on Google Shopping when they search for a product, instantly getting photos of similar products that they might want to buy.
