A new law passed by California voters in the November election will set an unprecedented standard for digital privacy in the US, making it harder for big tech companies like Facebook and Google to track people‘s data.
The Consumer Privacy Rights Act, also known as Proposition 24, was on track to pass in California as of Wednesday morning, with 56% of voters supporting the measure and over three-quarters of ballots counted.
The law will strengthen existing privacy measures in California, allowing consumers to stop businesses from selling or sharing their personal information, including race, religion, genetic details, geographic location, and sexual orientation.
It will also set tighter restrictions on how websites track your data to sell that information to advertising partners. Google and Facebook — two of the largest players in online advertising — both gather personal data collected by third-party websites to strengthen their advertising products, which make up the bulk of their revenue.
Prop 24 could effectively block companies like Facebook and Google from continuing to collect that data, which could change their business models and cut into their existing revenue streams, privacy-compliance experts told Business Insider.
“The third-party adtech industry will need to evolve … otherwise, their business models risk becoming obsolete,” said Heather Federman, the vice president of privacy and policy at BigID, a data-privacy compliance firm.
A Facebook spokesperson did not provide comment when reached by Business Insider. A Google spokesperson did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s requests for comment. Neither company has publicly taken a stance on Prop 24.
The law comes as online-ad giants’ business models are facing other new threats. Apple is planning an iPhone software update that will let users opt out of ad trackers, which Facebook has vehemently protested. Web browsers including Chrome, Safari, and Firefox are rolling out similar tools to let users opt out of tracking, which could cut into advertisers’ revenue.
Prop 24 will become enforceable in 2023. Before that happens, California regulators are expected to provide more details about how it will be enforced, which could shape its influence on major tech companies.
Despite its potential to hurt the ad revenue of major tech companies, Prop 24 gained support from several tech business leaders who advocate privacy, including former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, who said the law was necessary to give people more control over their data.
Raju Vegesna, the chief evangelist at the global software firm Zoho, said he expected both private companies and governments to continue to crack down on third-party ad trackers because of growing privacy concerns from consumers. Vegesna added that Zoho removed third party trackers from its sites in July.
“That means we leave money on the table, but just because it’s there doesn’t mean you have to take it,” Vegesna said in an email to Business Insider. “The privacy tipping point for most countries will come when they realize just how much data big tech companies such as Google have collected on their citizens and that as a government, there is nothing they can do about it.”
Some privacy advocates have said the law doesn’t go far enough, calling instead for Congress to pass privacy legislation that sets a single standard nationwide. Advertising trade groups have voiced similar complaints, Adweek reported — they say more laws should be passed to protect consumer privacy but that those laws should instead be drafted at the national level.
By Aaron Holmes
Nov 4, 2020
www.businessinsider.com
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