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Watch closely what Google announces today around Chrome and privacy tools. You can't trust their motivations. Google's core business is data collection from as many sources as possible. They harvest our lives and micro-target advertising against them. /1
This research from an academic (Dr. Doug Schmidt) at Vanderbilt University (we helped publish for transparency) documented much of Google's data collection practices demonstrating most of it happens "passively" while user wouldn't even expect it. /2 digitalcontentnext.org/wp-content/upl…
Here is some additional research on consumer expectations DCN commissioned and wrote about on @NiemanLab last month. We wanted to at high level demonstrate ppl clearly don't expect to be tracked by Google out of context of necessity for its services. /3 niemanlab.org/2019/04/does-g…
This all matters because Google is threatened by new 2020 privacy law in California and hoping for a new federal law to preempt it. Again, data is G's business. In all conversations, their trade groups and advocates wrongly point to European privacy law (GDPR) as a failure. /4
All I know is that EU privacy laws absolutely freaked out Google. Google in fact did try to steamroll industry by mostly forcing pubs to get consent for Google. Publishers globally filed complaints. Importantly also sent to competition regulators. /5 reuters.com/article/us-alp…
Google's consent may not even be valid according to January finding of French DPA. This will take time. Google's EU DPA Ireland has active investigations, too. Point being, don't allow anyone to say GDPR is over and Google won. Enforcement will matter. /6 cnil.fr/en/cnils-restr…
You should definitely not take too much credence into single report showing Google reduced its ad tech tags least in EU which is the research Google's US friendlies based most of their testimonies on. see @RoslynLayton. Not all tags are equal, purpose/enforcement matter. /7
Which brings us to Google's earnings miss. It's notable Apple's Safari tightened up its privacy ITP (Tracking Prevention) closing loophole Google, FB, others were leveraging to use 1st party cookies in a 3rd party context to keep web-wide tracking alive. Any noise here hurts. /8
At a simple level, Google's business mines data across web universe. This data is blended, put to use to monetize at highest-margins. Often this means on low-cost content (user-generated including search, youtube) and certainly on Google-owned properties. That's the game. /9 
here is another look at it. everyone who lives in Google's web (dominant search, dominant browser - Chrome, dominant mobile layer - AMP, dominant ad tech - DBM, DFP, AdX) is being eaten alive for their data and squeezed for enough margin market will stomach. /10
which brings me back to Europe and narrative Google benefited most from GDPR (ignoring enforcement hasn't even played out). I don't buy it. And what is going on with Google's business in Europe (note they didn't break out EU until 2016)??? There is $1.7B in that growth swing. /11
so bottom-line, don't let Google (or any trade group, think tank or academic taking Google's $$) tell you what is best policy for data/privacy/competition). And pay super close attention if G restricts cookies but keeps loophole for its tracking ID in 3rd party context. /12
I was asked about Facebook. Check this out. FB, in addition to G, has seen large deceleration in Europe since GDPR roll-out. Regardless of global pressures, currency fluctuations, blah, this significantly challenges myth G/FB steamrolled GDPR (plus both are under investigation).
