UK Regulator to Have Oversight Over Google's Removal of Third-Party Cookies

   By Adria Calatayud

The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority said Friday that it will have an oversight role over Alphabet Inc.'s Google's planned removal of third-party cookies.

The antitrust watchdog said it secured commitment from Google to address competition concerns raised by some third parties about the tech company's plan. The CMA said it will take up a role in the design and development of Google's Privacy Sandbox proposals to ensure they don't distort competition.

The CMA said Google's U.K. commitments are likely to have implications for the global implementation of its Privacy Sandbox proposals.

Google's commitments follow an investigation, launched by the CMA in January, into its plan to phase out third-party cookies and other functionalities in its Chrome browser. The CMA said it was concerned that Google's plan could be developed in ways that would hurt competition in digital-advertising markets and concentrated more ad spending on Google.

The regulator will now launch a consultation on whether to accept Google's commitments, which will close on July 8.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 11, 2021 02:43 ET (06:43 GMT)

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