According to news on March 17, the US multi-state antitrust lawsuit is targeting Google’s plan to phase out third-party tracking cookies. The Union of Attorneys General headed by the State of Texas updated its lawsuit against Google on Tuesday, including more specific allegations against the search giant, such as the recent privacy update on Google’s Chrome browser, although it may better protect users’ Personal data, but at the same time consolidating Google’s dominance.

The Texas-led lawsuit was filed in December last year and is one of three ongoing antitrust cases against Google. In two other cases, the Colorado Attorney General's coalition claimed that Google stifled competition by manipulating search results. The US Department of Justice's case focused on Google's dominant position in the online search market and related advertising businesses.

Like the original indictment in Texas, the lawsuit updated on Tuesday focuses on Google's technology for targeted advertising on the Internet. The Attorney General previously claimed that Google used its influence in search, streaming video and other markets to stifle independent advertising platforms and force small businesses and the media to use its systems. But in the latest indictment, the states applied this argument to Google’s "Privacy Sandbox," which uses a more restricted system designed by Google to replace intrusive third-party tracking. cookie.

The indictment states: "Google's new plan is essentially to isolate consumers from accessing the entire Internet through Google Chrome." Blocking cookies may be a good thing in general, and browsers such as Firefox and Safari have already taken similar measures. But Chrome dominates the browser market, and it is an important part of Google's larger product suite. The lawsuit argues that Google’s plan will require advertisers to use it as an intermediary and will make Google’s own advertising system more attractive.

Over the years, Google has been gradually reducing the use of tracking cookies. Earlier this month, it announced that it would not establish an alternative system for tracking web users. But critics of the company believe that these efforts are selfish. Now, multi-state regulators appear to have adopted these criticisms and put new legal pressure on Google’s efforts to block Chrome tracking. The lawsuit stated: “Google tried to use privacy as an excuse to conceal its true intentions. In the privacy sandbox, Google did not actually stop user profile analysis or targeted advertising, placing the Chrome browser at the center of tracking and positioning.”

Google responded that the new allegations are based on a misunderstanding of Chrome's privacy features. A representative of the company explained: “The latest allegations have misrepresented many aspects of our business, including the measures we are taking on the privacy sandbox program to protect people’s privacy while browsing the web. These efforts have been influenced by privacy advocates, advertisers and even competition. The adversary welcomes them as a step forward in protecting user privacy and protecting free content. We will strongly oppose these baseless allegations in court."

Also on Tuesday, local time in the United States, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that four more states have joined the state’s lawsuit against Google, accusing Google of violating antitrust laws in order to boost its already The dominant advertising business. He said that Alaska, Florida, Montana, and Nevada have all joined the ranks, which brings the number of plaintiffs in the lawsuit to 15 states and territories.

In announcing the revised indictment on Tuesday, Paxton and other state attorneys general also revealed details of the relationship between Google and Facebook. The lawsuit accused Google of violating the law in the way that Google played a leading role in advertising online. It claimed that Google quietly cooperated with its closest online advertising competitor, Facebook, and acted unfairly under the pretext of protecting user privacy.

The revised indictment stated that Facebook and Google "co-identified users who use Apple products," but did not elaborate. In recent years, Apple has added to its Safari browser and iPhone methods to block user tracking that it believes ad technology companies violate privacy, and some of them have tried to take circumvention measures. Paxton said in a statement: "Our alliance looks forward to holding Google accountable for its violations and urges Google to change its practices in the future. We believe that Google will be forced to pay huge fines in order to pay for its misconduct. "(Little)

Source: NetEase Technology Report, translated by Google Translate