Ad Tech Briefing: The CMA tosses Google’s Privacy Sandbox a lifeline, as many declare it DOA

By Ronan Shields • June 17, 2025 •

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This Ad Tech Briefing covers the latest in ad tech and platforms for Digiday+ members and is distributed over email every Tuesday at 10 a.m. ET. More from the series →

The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority has opened a consultation on potentially releasing Google from Privacy Sandbox commitments imposed in 2022. Some are concerned this represents ‘a W’ for corporate conjury.

The move, announced June 13, follows Google’s April decision to drop plans to prompt Chrome users to block third-party cookies, a shift seen as reducing potential competitive harm. Indeed some are asking whether or not the April policy-reversal on nudging Chrome-users to dump cookies has been successful?

“The CMA believes the commitments are no longer necessary and is now consulting before it takes a decision on whether to release them later this year,” reads a release announcing the update. Public input has been invited, with stakeholders able to submit views on lifting the commitments until 4 July 2025 via the CMA’s official investigation page.

The CMA’s commitments – Google first committed to them in the early 2020s – aimed to prevent the online giant from designing Privacy Sandbox tools that could entrench its dominance in the U.K.’s multi-billion-pound ad market.

Officially, Google said the reversal is aimed towards reducing user confusion and friction by avoiding a binary prompt that might mislead users into thinking Chrome was sharing their data, a situation it is eager to avoid.

However, the widely perceived explanation among critics is that Google backtracked to avoid regulatory scrutiny and maintain control over digital advertising infrastructure while preserving its own competitive advantage.

Many believe Privacy Sandbox is now (unofficially) dead, despite Google’s attempts to counter such a narrative, with sources there maintaining that reports of layoffs at in the team being conflated with wider cutbacks across the web giant.

Additionally, last week Google’s Privacy Sandbox team last week issued a proposal for a Chrome feature that will attempt to block attempts to re identify Chrome-users when they use Incognito mode. Ergo, Google’s efforts to convince the wider sector, in particular government actors, of its magnanimous intentions.

All of this comes as Amit Mehta – the presiding judge in Google’s search antitrust case, where the Justice Department is pushing for a divestiture of Chrome – is expected to rule on remedies in early August. Meanwhile, the remedies phase in the ad tech trial are due to commence in late-September, with Google expected to lodge appeals extending proceedings into 2027.

However, some have questioned whether the DOJ’s efforts were fit for the contemporary landscape, with some even questioning if the only effective means of censure is levying Google with an astronomical fine.

“With all of the new AI products/tools coming, I think the anti-trust trial is misguided,” said one anonymous participant in a September 2024 survey of Digiday readers. “There’s a lot of competition and change coming in both search and ad tech.”

What we’ve heard

“The owners of Simpli.fi are not happy with how things are going (particularly growth), they’re looking to make some big move over there.”

— An industry source, who declined to be named. This came ahead of the ad tech company, which is partly-owned by private equity giants Blackstone and GTCR, announcing the appointment of Cali Tran as its new CEO, with former chief executive, and founder, transitioning to executive chairman.

Numbers to know

What we’ve covered:

What we’re reading

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