Publishers angered by Google's GDPR data-collection demands

Google is pushing its GDPR obligations onto publishers, claims leaked letter

A leaked letter from Google indicates that the $110 billion internet advertising giant expects publishers to shoulder the responsibility of compliance with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will come into force in just 24 days' time.

The letter, from Google parent company Alphabet to four major publishing trade groups, suggests that Google is expecting online publishers and other content creators to take responsibility for GDPR for advertising carried by its global internet advertising network.

The publishers had argued that the changes that Google expected them to make in order to, effectively, help Google achieve GDPR compliance were "unreasonable".

In the letter, the publishers claim that Google has effectively told them to meet all of the rules outlined by GDPR if they want to continue using its advertising services.

Set to come into force on 25 May, the law is intended to transform the way companies collect and handle the personal data of European citizens.

To ensure that its publishing services adhere to the law, Google has allegedly asked publishers to obtain user consent before collecting data from website visitors on its behalf.

As well as this, the publishers said Google has told them that it wants to be called a "controller" of data, instead of a "processor", reducing its legal obligations while not dialling back on either its data collection or processing of internet users' data.

The five-page letter was penned by Digital Content Next, European Publishers Council, News Media Alliance and News Media Association and leaked to Reuters.

They are trade bodies that work with more than 4,000 publishers and media outlets around the world, including Axel Springer, Telegraph Media Group, New York Times, Daily Mail publisher Associated Press, and Thomson Reuters.

Addressing Google CEO Sundar Pichai, the publishers said the proposal "severely falls short on many levels" and "would undermine the fundamental purposes of the GDPR and the efforts of publishers to comply with the letter and spirit of the law".

Google, however, has hit back at the claims. On Monday, a spokesperson for the firm told Reuters that it was simply complying with "significant new obligations for the ecosystem" set out by GDPR.

"We appreciate that there is a lot of confusion around the requirements of GDPR, so we are looking to help our publishers as much as we can," said Google representative Suzanne Blackburn told Reuters.

"We published more information in our Help Center last week to help our partners understand what we're providing and the steps they need to take to comply with GDPR."

Google's bid to achieve GDPR compliance has already caused friction with publishers across the world, on top of the belief that it makes more money from publishing online than publishers of original content.