Google to Let Android Users Opt-Out to Stop Ads From Tracking Them

Google is tightening the privacy practices that could make it
harder for apps on Android phones and tablets to track users who
have opted out of receiving personalized interest-based ads. The
change will go into effect sometime in late 2021.

The development, which mirrors Apple’s move to enable iPhone and
iPad users to opt-out of ad tracking, was first reported^[1]
by the Financial Times.

Once the revised policy goes live, Google is expected to
completely cut off developers’ access to the so-called “Advertising
IDs,” showing a “string of zeros” in its place. The Google
Advertising ID (AAID), analogous to Apple’s IDFA^[2], is a unique device
identifier that can be used by app developers to track users as
they move between apps to target ads better and measure the
effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

“Starting in late 2021, when a user opts out of interest-based
advertising or ads personalization, the advertising identifier will
not be available,” Google said^[3]
in a support document announcing the shift. “You will receive a
string of zeros in place of the identifier.”

While Google already allows Android users to limit ad tracking
and even manually reset the Advertising IDs as and when necessary,
the identifiers are still put to use for non-advertising but
essential use cases such as analytics and fraud detection. With
this update, that’s changing. The search giant said it intends to
provide an alternate solution in July to support such
scenarios.

In the absence of advertising IDs, Google also recommends that
app developers fall back to using a persistent or proprietary
identifier as long as the data collection is spelled out in the
apps’ privacy policy, and the amassed information is handled in
accordance with the Developer Distribution Agreement^[4], including all
applicable privacy laws where the apps are made available.

The change arrives hot on the heels of the company’s plans to
add iOS-style privacy labels to app listings^[5] on the Play Store that
highlight the various types of data being collected and how it’s
used, in addition to limiting apps, with the exception of a few,
from accessing the list of installed
apps^[6] on devices.

The announcement also comes a little over a month after Apple
turned the switch on App Tracking Transparency (ATT^[7]) in late April, a new
privacy framework that requires users to opt in before apps can
begin tracking them across other apps and websites using the
device’s advertising identifier.

Google’s proposed solution also differs from ATT
implementation-wise in that, unlike the latter, users won’t see an
opt-in prompt for each app, nor will they have granular controls
over each individual app’s ability to access their IDFA. Instead,
it will let users opt-out completely of all tracking for all
apps.

Another crucial distinction is that while Apple’s ATT is opt-in
— i.e., tracking is off by default — the upcoming privacy
protections outlined by Google are opt-out, potentially signaling
that the company doesn’t want to go all-out nuclear on tracking
over antitrust concerns.

It’s worth noting that Google’s Privacy Sandbox initiative to
supplant third-party cookies in Chrome browser with FLoC and FLEDGE^[8]
for privacy-preserving ad targeting is already in regulatory hot
waters over concerns that “the proposals could cause advertising
spend to become even more concentrated on Google’s ecosystem at the
expense of its competitors.”

The opt-out is set to be available as an update to Google Play
Services for Android 12 devices before gradually expanding to all
other apps running on devices that support Google Play in early
2022.