Major Tech Platforms Routinely Ignore Legal Privacy Opt-Outs, Audit Finds
If you've ever clicked a button to stop companies from tracking you online, there's a good chance it didn't work. A new audit found that 194 online advertising services—including systems run by Google, Meta, and Microsoft—are ignoring legally defined opt-out signals that users send through their browsers. These companies comply with the requests about half the time, meaning your explicit choice to not be tracked is being disregarded roughly half the time you make it.
Bottom Line
An audit of California web traffic found that 194 advertising services, including systems operated by Google, Meta, and Microsoft, routinely ignore legally mandated opt-out signals from users who don't want to be tracked. These major platforms comply with such requests only about half the time, revealing that current privacy laws lack sufficient enforcement teeth to change corporate behavior. For users, it means the browser-based privacy controls you've activated may not be protecting you as much as you think.