It will offer more granular choices for Search and YouTube
European lawmakers have been working to make it easier to stay in control of your personal data on the internet, and keep track of what info sites are getting from you. The landmark General Data Protection Regulation (or GDPR) has had a pronounced impact on how we use the internet and helped increase public awareness of how sites handle our data — even if you don’t live in Europe. In order to better comply with updated regulatory guidance, and in an effort to give users more control, Google is changing how it handles cookies in Europe across its services.
European users who aren’t already signed into a Google account (or are visiting in Incognito Mode) will soon see a new cookie banner on Google Search and YouTube, informing visitors how browser cookies will be used by the website if accepted. The actionable parts here are the big buttons to accept or reject all non-necessary cookies at once. There will also be the option to dive in and get more granular with permissions, should the user choose.
Google says the form was made with specific directions from France’s Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), and the change actually began rolling out earlier this month for French users visiting YouTube. Visitors across the rest of Europe will start seeing the new alert soon, as well.
In order to give users this relatively simple interface (not that anything with GDPR is every super smooth) Google notes that it had to make some deeper tweaks to its infrastructure — not that end users should notice. None of this fundamentally changes the way you’ll use either Search or YouTube, but more transparency is always appreciated.
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