Google decides to reintroduce digital fingerprinting to track users

Google is facing increasing regulatory scrutiny after its decision to reintroduce digital fingerprinting as part of its advertising strategy, a move that directly contradicts its previous stance on user privacy.

The company’s decision to resume this form of tracking comes shortly after its controversial reversal on the use of third-party cookies, and now, digital fingerprinting appears to be taking their place as a new, more opaque method for tracking users across various online platforms.

Starting on February 16, 2025, Google will relax its restrictions on ad targeting across a wider range of devices, including smart TVs and gaming consoles, by allowing advertisers to use digital fingerprinting techniques. This technology collects a variety of unique data points from a device, including details about its software and hardware, such as device IDs, IP addresses, and browsing activity.

When combined, these data points can uniquely identify individual users across different websites and apps, making it difficult for users to evade or control the tracking process.

Google argues that fingerprinting offers advertisers new ways to manage their data securely while providing privacy protections to users. The company claims that privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) have advanced to the point where they can enable businesses to target and measure ads more efficiently, while also ensuring users’ privacy expectations are met.