Will Google Analytics be banned, and so what exactly does this mean?

Why is Google Analytics suddenly under the microscope?

That is a good question. Because nothing comes out of the blue. It all started after a complaint from Max Schrems. He submitted 101 privacy complaints to various European regulators, including the Dutch Authority for the Protection of Personal Data, in August 2020. Think of complaints about Marktplaats, Thuisbezorgd and PostNL. Also in the rest of Europe, complaints were filed about similar services that would send their personal data to the U.S. just like that. The 101 complaints were also somewhat symbolic, given that a month earlier the European Court of Justice decided that there should be no more data exchange between the U.S. and Europe. Max Schrems wanted regulators to use the ruling to ban user data to the US. And, you probably guessed it, one of those cases involved Google Analytics. And that's how the pellet started rolling.

What's also important to know is that the case was not specifically about Google Analytics itself, but about a website that uses this tool. This is where there is a difference. It might just be that Google Analytics is not banned if you set up a few things the right way. The use of Google Analytics is in violation of the GDPR, Google Analytics itself is not (although that sounds very contradictory).

What exactly is the problem with Google Analytics?

The problem is in the online tracking of our customers. To be fair: this point has been up for discussion for years. That's why, since 2015, a cookie wall is also mandatory when you collect customer data online (e.g. via Google Analytics). Now your customers are really giving their consent to place cookies. It is under discussion to banish this option from life altogether, so that you can no longer follow the user. And can no longer advertise with this data to bring in the customer.

There are four new European laws in the works. These are Digital Services Act (DSA), Digital Markets Act (DMA), the Data Governance Act (DGA) and the Artificial Intelligence Regulation (AIR). The EDPB (European Data Protection Board) believes that these bills are not regulated well enough. Here is a short explanation of what exactly is meant by what.

DSA, DGA and DMA: Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Acts, and Data Governance Act.

These three items are an extension of each other. They would like to see a more secure digital space where rights are protected for all users. It should give you more control over what you see online. Website visitors can decide whether to allow targeted advertising or not and will be given clear information about why specific content is recommended to them. DSA is primarily for the moderation of content and liability of online intermediaries. The DGA ensures government data, data mediation services, and data authentication organizations against unlawful government transfer or access to non-personal data. The sale of data is therefore no longer possible. And this is while Google Analytics stores its data in the US, not in Europe.

👉 What is wrong with these laws?

Privacy watchdogs want stricter rules for personalized ads in the DSA. These ads are now based on tracking cookies, for example. The EDPB actually wants the tracking of people in this way to be banned altogether.

AIR: Artificial Intelligence Regulation

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes an increasingly important part of business and our daily lives, both companies and consumer groups have lobbied for clearer rules to ensure that AI is used fairly. In May 2021, the European Union became the first governmental body in the world to provide a comprehensive response in the form of regulations specifically aimed at the development and use of AI. The proposed regulations would apply to any AI system used or providing output within the European Union, with implications for organizations around the world.

👉 What is wrong with this law?

The EDPB wants an overall ban on facial recognition and profiling with AI. Mainly because it often leads to discrimination. A system that registers whether you are male, female, or heterosexual can cause you to be disadvantaged and therefore discriminated against.

These are concrete examples of exactly what the EDPB does not like about these proposals for legislation. Overall, it comes down to three points that the EDPB disagrees with:

• These laws do not protect the rights of citizens enough
• At some points they are in conflict with existing laws, just think of the GDPR law (General Data Protection Regulation)
• The oversight of these proposed laws is not well enough organized (which regulators should enforce exactly what?)

When will we know more?

Okay, now you know what to expect. Possibly we will enter a cookieless era. With an emphasis on possibly. Because nothing is certain. The verdict on the website in question in Austria has already been made. "In the opinion of the regulator, Google Analytics cannot be used as prescribed in Article 5 of the GDPR." Meanwhile, the website has been taken over and is now located in Germany, the German watchdog would still have to decide whether to adopt this ruling or not. The ruling applies to websites that use Google Analytics, not Google Analytics itself.

The judgment is not yet binding, that is now up to the German watchdogs. If, for example, Google were to store its data in Europe instead of the U.S., that would already make a substantial difference, since the data would then no longer be "sold on". Hopefully, we will know more about this soon!

What alternatives are available to you?

There is nothing wrong with pre-emptively looking for another tool to help you collect data from your website visitors. And believe us: there are plenty of alternatives. You can find a small list of these alternatives below. The advantage of these alternatives is that they process data in Europe. The platforms below are self-hosted (so you can decide which data you want to track).

• Plausible self hosted. Plausible is incredibly user-friendly and lightweight for your website. The interface is somewhat similar to Google Analytics. You can find a demo of Plausible here.
• GoatCounter. GoatCounter is also very lightweight for your website and gives you the statistics that you ask for. For example, it keeps track of useful statistics such as browser information, location, and screen size. Keeps track of referring sites and campaigns.
• Shynet. Shynet is less known, but certainly not less user-friendly! Works without cookies, so no cookie notification is needed. The idea is that you actually have a lot of useful information while respecting the privacy of visitors.
• Umami. The goal is to provide you with a friendlier, privacy-oriented alternative to Google Analytics and a free, open-source alternative to paid solutions. Umami collects only the statistics you find important, and everything fits on a single page. Think of it as a kind of dashboard: all the information on one page. Nice and easy! You can find a demo of Umami here.
• Offen. Want to be transparent with your data? Then Offen is the place to be. Offen is an honest web analytics software that gives users insight into the data they generate by giving them access to the same analytics tools that site managers use. Yes, this way, your website visitors can see exactly what information they are leaving behind on your website. With the user data, an explanation is given of the meaning, relevance, use, and possible consequences for privacy, and it is also indicated which data is not collected. All data can be selectively or completely deleted by users. This really puts your website visitors in control! Curious to see what this looks like? Check out the demo here!
• Freshlytics. In Freshlytics you work with a dashboard. In your dashboard, you see all the information that is important for you as a webshop. Think of the page views, the browsers used, how many users there are on your website, etc. Cookies are not placed with freshlytics. There is no demo, but some screenshots of the interface can be found here.
• Ackee. Last but not least: Acklee. Acklee also works with one single page, which is your dashboard. You have the standard data in front of you: the number of visitors, number of page views, which browser they use, whether they view your website via desktop or mobile and so on. With Acklee you can easily switch domains to view your dashboard. This is very handy if your webshop consists of multiple languages! You can find a demo of Acklee here.

In addition to these well-known analytics tools, there are many more to consider. Google Analytics has simply become the biggest and the most used. This does not mean that we should all continue to use Google Analytics. There are plenty of other programs that provide you with the same kind of data. It's up to you which one you find most comfortable to work with.