Google recently announced the roll out of “passkeys”, a new way for consumers to sign-in to apps and websites, described in its release as “the beginning of the end of the password”. Microsoft and Apple are also readying their operating systems to support the new technology.
Google is selling passkeys as an easier and more secure method of account verification for media owners. They will allow users to log-in to websites the same way as they unlock their device, i.. e, with a fingerprint, PIN, face scan etc., replacing the need for numerous, often forgettable, passwords.
The proposal indeed offers some consumer benefits. Nonetheless, we fear that Google’s offering in its current form could further entrench platform dominance by disintermediating media owners from their customers.
Traditional log-in is a highly important information source for publishers, facilitating improved personalization, and generating greater ad-funded revenues. Replacing this process with platform-controlled sign-in risks creating information disintermediation, and consequently lessening what competitive constraints still act on the platforms’ business-facing solutions.
This is not to say that we should turn our backs to innovation and password-less alternatives might indeed offer a more seamless user experience.
However, this can surely be achieved without sacrificing “down-stream” online services from understanding the needs of their own customers. Instead of falling, again, for the platforms’ “monolithic” vision of browser functionality, MOW would propose an alternative decentralised model, which facilitates information exchanges with those publishers’ users choose to sign-in with.
We would appreciate an opportunity to discuss some of these alternatives with the CMA.