Thread · 4 tweets · 15 Jan 2023

I didn't say it was conspiracy, I'm just pointing out that Google makes brisk business funding disinformation and it is predicated on precisely this. I also have too much respect for the intelligence of the people involved there to not assume they know this is a bad solution.

But since it's Saturday night, let's entertain some conspiracy, or at least some kremlinology! I think that Google oversold to the CMA their ability to replace everything the cookie does, and included stuff that could legit die in the mix, like Topics.

With everyone (predictably) pointing out flaws in Topics, they had a choice to: A) Drop the Sandbox. B) Betray their commitments to the community and to privacy. C) Betray their commitments to the CMA. They chose B.

Now, this is 200% speculation and it's arguable that given such a shit choice, B was the least sucky option. Still, there were paths that didn't lead to this trap.