In response to the CMA’s announcement today that it intends to release Google from its Commitments relating to the Privacy Sandbox project, James Rosewell, co-founder of advocacy group the Movement for an Open Web, said:
“We were the initial complainant in this case and this is a victory for the Open Web and for MOW’s role in the fight against Privacy Sandbox. The CMA has released these commitments because it is convinced that Google has abandoned the most anti-competitive aspects of the Privacy Sandbox, namely the blocking of third party cookies, that were based on bogus privacy claims. However, the CMA needs to keep an eye on this situation as Google is a known recidivist and could easily U-turn again and threaten the interoperability on which the Open Web relies.
“We appreciate the CMA’s protection for realtime communication but they and regulators around the world need to remain vigilant about the ongoing threat that Google and the other tech platforms pose to an open and competitive Internet by interfering with open standards of internet communication.”
About MOW
The Movement for an Open Web is an advocacy group fighting to protect the Internet from attempts by the Tech Platforms to enclose it in their walled gardens.
Companies such as Google and Apple are attempting to rewrite core, open and interoperable standards in areas such as advertising, payments and identity for their own advantage. They want to stop technical interoperability between businesses so that they can dominate the internet value chain. MOW exists to prevent them from achieving their aims.
MOW works with regulators, lawmakers and standards bodies to help create a fair and competitive digital market that is not dominated by the platforms. This is achieved by raising awareness of the issues, influencing legislation and regulation and ensuring that web standards are developed for all players and not just the biggest.
Founded in 2020, MOW has so far had a significant impact on the global debate in this area. It was the initial complainant in both the CMA’s investigation into Google’s Privacy Sandbox and in the European Commission’s Statement of Objections to Google’s dominance of the advertising technology industry.