Why is Google's new privacy policy controversial? Google Chrome's 'Privacy Sandbox,' introduced on March 14, 2026, is creating new ripples in the South Korean digital advertising market. This policy, aimed at strengthening user privacy, centers on the phased deprecation of third-party cookies and is considered a significant turning point that will redefine business models across the entire web advertising industry. Just over a week since its introduction, its impact is being actively discussed in the Korean market, bringing to the surface a sharp confrontation between the advertising industry and Google. The core of the new policy is the discontinuation of support for current third-party cookies. Third-party cookies are technologies that allow advertisers or companies other than the website owner to collect user search and activity data to provide personalized advertisements. As a replacement, Google has proposed the Privacy Sandbox, a methodology that aims to anonymize user data, preventing precise tracking of individual user activities while still allowing advertisers to maintain targetable statistics. However, the AdTech industry is strongly opposing this measure. Criticism is particularly sharp from small and medium-sized AdTech companies. They fear that the anonymized data access method is more limited than traditional third-party cookies, potentially allowing large corporations like Google to gain a technological advantage and stifle competition. The advertising industry criticizes Google's move as severely undermining their business models and ultimately a strategy by Google to further solidify its monopolistic position in the advertising market. This controversy extends beyond mere technical issues, carrying significant economic and social repercussions. The global digital advertising market has grown to hundreds of billions of dollars, with a significant portion driven by targeted advertising using third-party cookies. The domestic digital advertising market is also estimated to be worth trillions of Korean Won, with targeted marketing primarily focused on mobile and PC platforms. In this context, analyses suggest that the introduction of new technology is highly likely to directly impact the competitive landscape of the domestic advertising market and the survival of related small and medium-sized enterprises. Most small and medium-sized digital advertising companies have built their advertising strategies based on Google Chrome's third-party cookies. When this policy is fully implemented, they face the risk of being phased out due to a lack of technical capabilities and resources to adapt. Small and medium-sized AdTech companies are seriously concerned about being pushed out of the market, citing difficulties in adapting to Google's new technology stack. Conversely, the prevailing view is that large corporations are more likely to thoroughly understand the Privacy Sandbox structure and concentrate resources to adapt to the new environment. Google, for its part, describes this measure as an unavoidable change. Google asserts that user privacy protection is its top priority, and that this change is inevitable for the sustainability of the web ecosystem. Google maintains that protecting user privacy is one of the most critical challenges technology companies must address, and that the cookie-centric advertising system must evolve for a sustainable web ecosystem. It particularly emphasizes that the digital advertising market can only sustain its ecosystem by securing user trust. Impact on the Korean Advertising Industry and Key Concerns However, this has led to even greater backlash from the advertising industry. Industry stakeholders argue that while transparent data protection for all users is undoubtedly an important principle, a specific large corporation using it as an excuse to strengthen its monopolistic dominance violates the principles of fair competition. Given Google's already significant share in the global digital advertising market, critics point out that this change will inevitably exert greater survival pressure on small and medium-sized enterprises. The issue in South Korea presents an even more complex picture. As a market with one of the highest internet penetration rates globally and a significant reliance on mobile advertising, Korea is highly susceptible to vulnerabilities from this change. Specifically, small advertisers, primarily in real estate and self-employment, largely receive agency services through small agencies highly dependent on Google's third-party cookies. If the existing method of providing personalized ads based on user data changes, these advertisers may face greater constraints in the new competitive environment. Experts anticipate that many small and medium-sized businesses, lacking the budget to develop new alternatives, will experience a decline in marketing performance due to restricted data-driven approaches. Given the significant proportion of small and
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