Russian cyber security firm Kaspersky published its annual web tracking report yesterday, and Google once again comes out at the top of the pile.
Authors of the report, Anna Larkina and Flavio Negrini, said: “Eight tracking systems appeared in almost all of the Top 25 lists for the regions we studied. Four of these belong to Google.”
Kaspersky, recently banned from the US, identified the top 25 tracking services in regions around the world. They collected the data from July 2023 to June 2024 via the opt-in Do Not Track (DNT) tool built into all of their products. In one year the DNT tool flagged a staggering 39 billion tracking attempts.
The Scale of Google Tracking
Google’s tracking activities are split across different systems that serve industries like marketing and advertising. The four horsemen of Google’s monitoring efforts are:
- Google Display & Video 360 – Focuses on targeted advertising and analytics, is a crucial component in Google’s ad infrastructure.
- Google Analytics – A vital tool for web developers and businesses to monitor activity on their websites.
- Google AdSense – Another ad-tracking system
- YouTube Analytics – Monitors user engagement with video content
The most frequently detected tracker, Google Display & Video 360 makes up around 25% of all major tracking activities in South and East Asia alone (100% represents the total number of DNT detections triggered by all 25 tracking services).
Overall, these four Google services represent 40% of all web tracking activity in Europe. In North America it’s 35%, but in South Asia, that goes up to 59%.
Display and Analytics even saw a decrease in activity share across most regions compared to last year, while AdSense increased its share. YouTube Analytics reportedly increased its share in every single measured region.
A crucial finding from the Kaspersky report is the regional variation in tracker deployment. South and East Asia came out as the region most targeted by web trackers, with Google services playing a major role. By contrast, Europe and the CIS saw much lower activity, likely due to stricter privacy like GDPR. North America also saw fewer tracker detections compared to South Asia, though Google still maintained a strong presence in the region
Rising Contenders in Web Tracking
While Google remains the largest player in web tracking, other companies have begun to increase their presence. The report identifies New Relic, a service focused on performance monitoring, which operates out of San Francisco and appeared on the top 25 list in all regions for the first time.
The diversity of web trackers is a clear indication of the growing sophistication of online tracking technologies. Companies large and small are vying for a share of user data, and while some of the trackers are used for legitimate performance and security monitoring, the vast majority are focused on collecting personal data for ad targeting.
The future of web tracking is unlikely to slow down anytime soon. Despite attempts by tech giants like Google to shift toward privacy-friendly tracking models, such as the Privacy Sandbox initiative, the reality is that tracking remains deeply embedded in the internet’s monetisation infrastructure. The constant demand for personalised advertising and user data from businesses drives the tech sector to push the boundaries of tracking technologies, meaning users will need to stay vigilant and proactive in protecting their online identities
As users become more aware of these risks, the importance of privacy tools and stronger regulations will only increase. However, as long as the internet relies on data collection for revenue, the battle between privacy advocates and trackers will continue.
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