MIKE SCHULMAN: We've seen a change
in people's awareness of how their data is used,
and their expectations.
And that's actually really a good thing.
You know, an interesting data point around this,
is searches for online privacy have grown globally
more than 50% year over year.
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NEHA KHANNA: In this episode of "The Update,"
I talk with Mike Schulman, the head of Ads Privacy and Safety,
about how Google is working to improve user privacy,
while preserving the ad-supported internet.
Mike, can you tell us more about your role
leading Ads Privacy and Safety at Google?
MIKE SCHULMAN: My team is really focused
on ensuring digital advertising is safe and effective.
So that works for users, publishers, and advertisers
and can continue to support the open internet.
NEHA KHANNA: How has the ads team responded
to the increased focus on and concerns for privacy?
MIKE SCHULMAN: Privacy isn't a new priority for Google.
It's been a longtime focus, and we've
introduced a number of tools over the years,
like ad settings and activity controls.
We never sell your information to anyone
and we don't use your emails, documents,
or sensitive information like race, religion,
or sexual orientation for advertising purposes.
Users really do prefer personalized ads,
but only if those ads protect our privacy and offer
transparency control.
So we've taken steps to increase transparency
into how digital advertising works,
offer users additional controls, and really ensure
that people's choices about their use of data
are respected, and not worked around or ignored.
NEHA KHANNA: Can you tell me a bit more
about transparency and control?
The two of them seem to be linked.
MIKE SCHULMAN: We consistently hear that users really
prefer ads that are relevant to them
versus the ads that kind feel like they're
appearing at random.
But concerns really arise when people
have experiences with ads that they can't understand.
Like when it's not clear what information about them
is being used, or what companies are involved.
So that's why we offer tools like "Why this ad,"
where from an icon in the ad itself,
users can get more information on why they're seeing the ad
or even choose to stop seeing that ad altogether.
In this area, we'll be making improvements
to this experience, including providing more information
to the users about the ad, like the verified name
of the advertiser.
NEHA KHANNA: Mike, you mentioned something
important about protecting people's privacy
and ensuring that their preferences aren't
worked around.
What are some of the things that users need protection from?
MIKE SCHULMAN: Some companies involved in digital advertising
use opaque techniques to gather data about individual users
or track them covertly.
Fingerprinting, which involves collecting
very specific information about someone's browser
or their device to identify and track them is just one example.
But there are other methods that are
being used that aren't clearly disclosed and don't
offer really the transparency and control
that users expect and need.
So we believe that any attempts that try and track
these people without permission really should be blocked.
NEHA KHANNA: When talking with a number of advertiser clients
and publisher partners, I know that most of them
want to do right by users and they
want to prioritize privacy, but they're also
facing the reality of increasing business pressures,
more so during COVID-19.
Do you see a trade-off between user privacy
and being able to deliver on some key advertising
and monetization requirements that marketers
and publishers have?
MIKE SCHULMAN: It's important to remember
that the ad-supported internet really depends on user trust.
And if we continue with some of these practices
and deliver on some of the experiences of the past,
we're actually putting the future
of the open internet at risk.
We're focused on improving privacy
for users, while also supporting the ad-supported internet.
That means coming up with alternative ways
and new technologies to accomplish
these key advertising use cases.
I'm confident that we can do both.
And it's not just Google who will do this.
We're working across the ads ecosystem and the web standards
community to make this happen.
NEHA KHANNA: I know that the Chrome Privacy Sandbox
is a big part of this plan.
And for those who aren't familiar,
it's an effort that the Chrome team
is leading with the web standards community
to develop a new set of technologies
for the web that is more privacy protecting
than third-party cookies are.
What is the latest over there?
MIKE SCHULMAN: Really good progress.
Since the Privacy Sandbox was announced last August,
there have actually been several proposals published
for new APIs that would solve some of these key advertising
use cases, like ad selection, conversion measurement, fraud
protection, all in a way that doesn't reveal
any information about individual users or keeps
that identifying data on the user's device itself.
One of those APIs for Trust Token that can combat ad fraud
is actually already being tested by developers.
And I expect that we'll see more proposed APIs
and live testing soon.
Our ads team is contributing to this dialogue and some
of the proposals, and we expect to incorporate them
in our own product roadmap in the years ahead.
But we can't solve this alone.
For this to succeed, we really need the involvement
of partners across the industry.
So it's been really good to see the proposals
that other companies have submitted as well.
NEHA KHANNA: What else do you have
in the works besides the Privacy Sandbox?
MIKE SCHULMAN: Within the ads team,
we're exploring a range of other approaches
to improve user privacy, while still
ensuring that publishers can earn what they need
to fund great content and advertisers can still
reach the right people for their products.
For example, we support the use of advertiser first-party data
to deliver more relevant and helpful experiences
across sites, as long as users have transparency and control
over the use of that data.
We're also continuing to invest in machine learning, which
can be used to make our advertising products
work without collecting raw data from user's device
or help fill in the gaps when data isn't available.
NEHA KHANNA: For all the marketers and publishers
watching this today, what tips do
you have for them when it comes to investing
in first-party data?
MIKE SCHULMAN: There really aren't any shortcuts here.
The more that a business has meaningful direct relationships
with our customer, the more opportunity
they're going to have.
For advertisers, that really means
using what you know about your customer
to strengthen those relationships
and find new customers like them.
For publishers, that means understanding
your users and their preferences,
so you can build better experiences for them
both in content and in ads.
We've published two new playbooks, one for marketers
and one for publishers, with lots of really good suggestions
on this topic and real-world examples.
So I'd really encourage everyone to go check those out.
NEHA KHANNA: Mike, you shared a lot about Google's approach,
but the digital ads ecosystem is a pretty crowded space,
with different companies participating.
How do you ensure that user experiences improves
across the board, not just for ads that Google is showing?
MIKE SCHULMAN: The industry really
needs to come together to align on a new set of standards.
It's just not enough for one or two companies
to change their practices.
Last year we shared a proposal for industry-wide privacy norms
around the use of data for ads, and we're now
working to revise it based on the feedback we've heard.
We've also been working on a new tool
to provide people with detailed information about the ads
they see on the web.
It's called the Ads Transparency Spotlight,
and it's now available for everyone
to try out as an extension in the Chrome Web Store.
We'd really love to hear feedback from folks, so let
us know what you think.
NEHA KHANNA: Thanks for the insights, Mike.
This has been great.
Do you have any final thoughts to share?
MIKE SCHULMAN: I think a lot of people
might be feeling uneasy right now.
We're in a period of transition, and there's still
a lot of uncertainty about what the end state for privacy
and ads will look like.
On top of that, we have all the business pressure that
intensified because of COVID.
But really, we're asking you, please
don't sit on the sidelines or continue with kind of business
as usual.
Make sure your organization is having an active discussion
about privacy.
Contribute your perspective to some of these industry forums,
and take steps now to prepare for the future.