This month, we highlight Google’s decision to abandon its third-party cookie replacement product, explore the topics that data providers are researching the most, and highlight UK regulations for vendors to keep an eye on.

GOOGLE GETS FLACK FOR FLOC

Google has scrapped plans to introduce its third-party cookie alternative after receiving complaints from German publishers.

The alternative — called Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) — would have kept Internet activity data within a users’ browser and would have created anonymised cohorts that advertisers could target. The tech firm has previously said it would replace third-party cookies in Chrome by 2023, facing pressure from regulators.

This month, several German publishers, advertisers and media groups sent a 108-page complaint to EU regulators opposing FLoC. Their main complaint? That Google’s plan would decrease competition in the EU since firms will no longer be able to track users’ preferences (and would therefore lose ad revenue).

Instead, Google has now proposed a new solution called Topics API, which would pinpoint a basket of user interests based on web activity. Any data providers that were preparing for the move to FLoC should become familiar with Topics and the implication that the new system has for their data products.

WHAT’S NEW IN DATA PROVIDER NEWS?

The Great Resignation was a term that was coined at the end of 2021 to explain the significant number of employees leaving their jobs. This month, we noticed several data vendors using data to explore the labour market. These vendors are monitoring job listings data, analysing popular job positions and identifying the factors that have led to poor job satisfaction.

The top five predictors of employee attrition were identified as toxic corporate culture, job insecurity and reorganisation, high levels of innovation, failure to recognise employee performance, and poor response to COVID-19.

NATIONAL SECURITY AND INVESTMENT ACT 2022

This month, the National Security and Investment Act came into force in the UK.

Data vendors should be aware that a non-UK-based firm can be subject to these rules if it supplies goods (both physical and information exchanges) or cross-border transactions that pass through the UK. If these new rules apply to your firm or a firm that you acquire, any acquisitions could be subject to scrutiny by UK regulators.