As part of a series, the Star looks more closely at a new report by the International News Media Association: How to Decode the Publisher-Platform Relationship identifies seven issues as the most concerning to publishers in the digital age. Today, privacy and consumer data.

The protection of data has become a top concern for consumers, companies and authorities since March 2018, when it was revealed that the data of up to 50 million Facebook users was misused by British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.

Several companies have been strengthening their privacy policies in the wake of the scandal, but the changes are damaging publishers’ data businesses. For example, the International News Media Association (INMA) says in 2019 Google updated its Chrome browser and Apple changed its Safari protocols so that publishers can no longer detect incognito browsing, making metered pay gateways much more porous. The changes also made it more difficult to attribute a consumer’s purchase to advertisements they saw on a website, diminishing a publisher’s opportunity to make money.

Apple appears to like the secrecy such measures foster so much that INMA says in late 2019 it will roll out a “Sign-in with Apple” feature, offering anonymity as a default for consumers logging in, registering for or purchasing news online. The sign-in tool, INMA claims, will be mandatory for any developer that currently uses social sign-in widgets and will only give publisher’s anonymized consumer data unless users request otherwise.

Possible solutions:

Adopt uniform law on privacy and data usage.

INMA is a fan of Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation, which ushered in a wave of stronger privacy policies and added regulation of tech companies, when they came into effect in May 2018.

INMA would like to see tech giants use GDPR as the standard for its operations in every country and would like governments around the world to adopt complementary regulations, which would deter companies from getting around safeguards by operating in other countries with looser policies.

Share agreed data.

There is a lack of standardization around the collection of data, soliciting consumer permissions to hold such data and deciding when and how it should be shared. INMA says Google shares news subscription data with publishers whose content it aggregates, as does Facebook through its recent beta trial with publishers. Apple, however, does not and should allow customers to opt-in to sharing information with publishers like its competitors do, says INMA. “It needs to update its long-held view that someone who purchases news from a publisher via an Apple platform is not actually also the publisher’s customer,” the organization argues.

Fix data stranglehold by loosening the platform trap.

INMA feels tech giants should allow publishers to conduct monetary transactions through their own software without forcing them to use the platform’s offerings. Those platforms, INMA argues, should also stop the “platform trap” by sending readers directly to publications’ websites when they click articles from such publications on social media. “Apple News at present holds the reader in an Apple bubble with the publisher oblivious to content usage behaviours within that cone of silence,” INMA argues. “But those behaviours would be vital input for publishers to help optimize their digital experience for users.”

News in the era of big tech

A Star series is examining the effect of powerful global digital platforms on the news industry. Stories include:

Media and big tech face off in digital age

Whose news it is anyway?

In pursuit of privacy protection

Levelling the tax playing field

Addressing the real problem of fake news

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Transparency sought on how big tech handles news

Apple tax creates discontent among publishers

Tackling challenges of a dysfunctional online advertising market

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