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

Google faces new complaints from Germany’s largest publishers and advertisers. They are demanding that the EU intervene in the search giant’s plan to stop using third-party cookies. Axel Springer and other German pusblishers launched a competition complaint to the EU against the decisison from Google towards abolition of third-party cookies from Chrome browser by late 2023

This decision prevents advertisers, publishers, and intermediaries from analyzing user preferences while users browse online content. This has a significant impact on how the industry makes money. Axel Springer participated in a 108-page complaint on 24th January with the participation of other industry groups such as the Federal Association of German Digital Publishers. They argue that while Google’s planned changes will hurt the business, Silicon Valley Group will be able to collect large amounts of user data in a way that doesn’t impact its own ad-based search business. Complaints are the latest effort to initiate a formal investigation in Brussels and can lead to fines equivalent to up to 10 percent of global revenue. Technology giants have already been fined more than € 8 billion in three antitrust proceedings over the last decade.

Google’s decision on cookies was delayed almost two years after Silicon Valley companies said they were discussing changes with rivals and regulators in an attempt to avoid “risking” the web publisher’s business. According to a report by the UK competition monitoring agency, online publishers are at risk of potentially huge revenue losses of up to 70%.

More information  and the press release (in German) is available also on the German Advertising Association ZAW website.