Thread · 7 tweets · 22 Oct 2021

You should read the whole thread, but a few highlights. Google and Facebook force publishers into terms under which they have to hand over their audience data for arbitrary uses. The animation shows that crisply.

When I say "force" I'm not being hyperbolic. Under Google's GDPR terms, publishers are also liable for Google's misuse of the data. There is no question that this is exploitative; but the EU doesn't pursue exploitative antitrust cases and Google knows that.

It's a lot like consenting to Squid Game.

It's also inescapable: even if you somehow manage to get rid of GAM, SSO, and friends, your audience data will still be taken through the surveillance mechanisms built into Android and Chrome.

The impact is real: because they can take and exploit their competitors' data, they can direct high margin ads to their own properties. This defunds journalism at scale.

These aren't the only problems — the thread lists more. Alternatives are possible if we remove what makes these practices legal. Look at the numbers on Kobler!

There are discussions on banning targeted advertising. That's too coarse, but reform is possible. Outlawing third-party data controllers is one. Treating different services from the same entity as different controllers that can only share very narrow data is another.