Google, Microsoft, Meta All Tracking You Even When You Opt Out
8 hours ago
- #privacy audit
- #cookie tracking
- #data regulation
- An independent privacy audit found that 55% of checked websites in California set ad cookies even when users opted out, potentially violating state regulations and incurring billions in fines.
- Google, Meta, and Microsoft had high failure rates in honoring opt-out signals: Google 87%, Meta 69%, and Microsoft 50%, with Google-certified consent management platforms also failing to block cookies consistently.
- The audit criticized big tech companies for treating fines as a cost of business rather than a deterrent, suggesting they don't fear regulatory penalties for privacy violations.
- Timothy Libert, founder of webXray and former Google cookie policy lead, argued enforcement is failing, as regulators often take companies at their word without demanding public proof of compliance.
- A simple technical fix was proposed: ad servers could return a '451 Unavailable For Legal Reasons' status code when opt-out signals are detected, preventing cookie setting without complex changes.