HubSpot Director on GDPRs 4th anniversary: “GDPR is no longer fit for purpose”

“The sophistication of data capture has finally outpaced its watchguard and GDPR is no longer fit for purpose. Regulation has always favoured the big; so much so that the tech giants that should have been the most hamstrung by the privacy law’s inception in 2018 – the likes of Facebook and Amazon – remained more or less impervious to it. And now, as GDPR races to retrofit new legislative ‘add ons’ that most technology companies will have evolved well beyond by the time they’re implemented, GDPR is barely an afterthought for marketing professionals who are readying themselves for a much more seismic change this year: the crumbling of third-party cookies.

“Because of that, advertisers will require new, privacy-respecting, non-tracking-based approaches to reach their target audiences. Now, then, is the time for businesses to establish what a value exchange between users and an ad-funded, free internet actually looks like – but that goes far beyond the remit of GDPR. In order to rebuild the commercial internet with a focus on privacy, the biggest platforms will have to lead the charge and collaborate when it comes to establishing a best practice on data capture. For the smaller businesses, it’ll be about forming an allegiance with bigger technology companies who have the resources to navigate these changes so they can chart a course together.”

Ryan McDermott, Director of Strategic Alliances at HubSpot