German publishers oppose Google’s plan to phase out third-party cookies

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Google is facing a new complaint from Germany’s largest publishers and advertisers, asking the European Union to intervene over the search giant’s plan to stop using third-party cookies.

Axel Springer, publisher of titles like Bild and Politico, is among hundreds of publishers, advertisers and media groups that have argued the bloc’s head of competition, Margrethe Vestager, that Google is breaching EU law with its move to phase out third-party cookies from Chrome by the year next.

The decision prevents advertisers, publishers, and brokers from analyzing users’ preferences as they browse online content – a critical blow to how the industry generates revenue.

Axel Springer joined other industry bodies, such as the German Federal Association of Digital Publishers, in a 108-page complaint seen by the Financial Times and sent on Monday.

They argue that Google’s planned changes will hurt their business while allowing the Silicon Valley group to collect massive amounts of user data in ways that leave its ad-based search business unaffected.

The complaint is the latest attempt to force Brussels to open a formal investigation that could lead to fines of up to 10 per cent of global revenue. The tech giant has already received more than 8 billion euros in fines across three separate antitrust cases over the past decade.

“Publishers should remain in a position to ask users to consent to data processing, without Google making this decision. The document, which was also sent to the EU Strong Competition Unit, said Google should respect the relationship between publishers and users without interfering.

Google’s decision on cookies was delayed by nearly two years after Silicon Valley said it was in talks with competitors and regulators about the change as it sought to avoid “compromising” the business of web publishers. A report by the UK’s competition watchdog found that online publishers risk huge revenue losses of up to 70 per cent.

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European Union officials are already concerned that Google may abuse its dominant position in favor of its advertising services at the expense of competitors. In the US, regulators have also accused the tech giant of colluding with Facebook to shut down rival ad exchanges.

In an effort to avoid further scrutiny, Google launched a massive lobbying campaign in Brussels against efforts to limit its market power. It has been involved in last-minute attempts to try to influence incoming EU rules on big tech companies through a series of targeted social media posts, emails and ad campaigns to EU lawmakers.

Regulators in Brussels have already opened an informal investigation into the search giant’s position in the online market, as it acts as a dominant intermediary between advertisers and publishers. This is part of a broader investigation into the way Google collects data that began in 2019.

The company is also appealing to the EU High Court against an earlier ruling upholding a €2.42 billion fine for promoting its comparison shopping service over competitors.

Google said: “Many other platforms and browsers have already stopped supporting third-party cookies, but only Google is doing so publicly and in consultation with technical standards bodies, regulators and industry, while also proposing new alternative technologies.”

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