Apple and Google’s Privacy Changes Are a Huge Benefit for the Creator Economy

The old model is dying

Thomas Smith
OneZero

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Young woman recording video for social media
Carol Yepes via Getty Images

Earlier this year, Apple announced sweeping changes to their privacy policies, which sent shockwaves through the online advertising world. Beginning with iOS 14.5, which was released in April, Apple implemented Ad Tracking Transparency (ATT), a feature that requires apps that wish to track users for advertising purposes to ask for their permission first. Google has taken baby steps in the same direction with their Android OS and took a big step by moving to phase out tracking cookies. Privacy laws like California’s CCPA are discouraging the gathering of tracking data, too.

It’s hard to overstate how big a deal these changes are for the world of online advertising. Advertisers have grown accustomed to gathering data on basically everything you do online, including the specifics of nearly every purchase you make, every site you visit, and much more, in order to serve you targeted ads. According to Sav Khetan, Vice President of Product at data company Tealium, “brands should see Google’s update as a warning sign." The old model of gathering tons of data — often without users' knowledge — and then leveraging it to sell them things is dying.

That will mean massive changes to the business models of many advertising-driven companies…

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