A data bill threatening to centralise cookie consent, potentially affecting publishers’ digital advertising yields, has been dropped ahead of the general election.
The PPA, which represents specialist and magazine media organisations in the UK, had warned that the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill could have “exaggerated the issues around data unfairness in the digital market”.
The bill as it stood would have given the Secretary of State the power to create centralised cookie controls, meaning users would accept cookies once in their browser and not have to accept or reject them on each individual website they visit.
The PPA pointed out that this would “override the existing cookie consent relationships between users and publishers”.
It believed users would be more likely to consent to cookies from publishers they trust.
In addition businesses with a large proportion of revenue from digital advertising could have been badly hit by the loss of cookie data verifying the performance of their inventory.
Data Bill’s cookie proposal would have ‘completely undermined’ Digital Markets Bill
The Government decided not to push forward with the bill in the “wash-up” of outstanding legislation at the end of this week after Rishi Sunak called the general election for 4 July.
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill was passed, however, paving the way for a “level playing field” between big tech and publishers with the likes of Google and Facebook possibly being compelled to pay for the news content that appears on their platforms.
Lord Clement-Jones, Liberal Democrat Lords spokesperson for science, innovation and technology, warned in a debate on the Data Bill earlier this month that “centralising cookie consent would completely undermine” the Digital Markets Bill’s provisions to ensure fair competition such as through enforced data sharing from platforms to publishers.
Meanwhile at an April debate Lord Bassam, a Labour peer, said: “Some users may happily accept cookies from the websites of trusted organisations, such as news sources that they use regularly, but generally decline cookies from other websites due to privacy concerns.”
He added: “The number of mainstream internet browsers is incredibly small and they are operated by firms likely to be designated as having strategic market status under the Digital Markets Bill. If this legislation establishes a system that makes these browsers some kind of cookie gatekeeper, does that not risk amplifying existing competition barriers in digital markets, rather than bringing them down?”
PPA: ‘Collection of user data is vital for specialist publishers’
PPA chief executive Sajeeda Merali said on Friday: “The collection of user data is vital for specialist publishers as it allows them to provide consumers with a personalised, relevant user experience. It also enables publishing businesses to generate income through targeted advertising revenue, which in many cases empowers publishers to provide content without requiring consumers to pay a fee to access it.
“The cookie centralisation power in the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill would have exaggerated the issues around data unfairness in the digital market that stifle competition, at the expense of specialist publishing businesses and their consumers. It would have also undermined the new data sharing powers this Government has given to the CMA to level the playing field between platforms and publishers.
“The PPA has been grateful for the co-operation and cross-party support of key members of the House of Lords in raising awareness about this issue in parliament. We support this Government’s move not to pass this Bill. This allows us the opportunity to work with the next Government to come together to develop data legislation that protects the interests of consumers and businesses alike.”
Also passed in the pre-election “wash-up” in Parliament was the Media Bill, which removes the threat of state-backed press regulation and modernises broadcasting regulations so the likes of Netflix can be overseen by Ofcom.
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