SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook and Google are under growing pressure to better balance privacy and ad-targeting — with their fortunes at stake as users rebel, regulators loom and Apple pounces on the moment to polish its image.
At the heart of the issue is how much internet companies should know about people’s online lives, a flow of data that is key to the many billions Big Tech makes on ads each year.
The firms have faced steadily stricter rules since the EU passed a massive data privacy law in 2018 that, among other regulations, requires firms to seek direct consent of users before installing cookies on their computers.
But new pressure is building due to advancing landmark European…
