Ask Paul: January 19 (Premium)

Happy Friday! We live in interesting times, for better or worse, and you can see that in this week's terrific set of reader questions. I will do my best.
Numbers
AnOldAmigaUser asks:

With this week's revelations regarding tracking being done by Microsoft and Meta were sort of stunning. The problem was obvious, but I do not think the scale of the problem was as obvious.

Right. I equated this to having a baby: You know it's going to be difficult, but it's only when it really happens that you understand that knowing that in no way prepared you for reality.

What I found interesting was that it was Microsoft that posted the "772" message itself because of those rules. The Meta numbers were the result of analysis by Consumer Reports. I find it hard to believe that Google, Apple, Meta, TikTok, etc. are going to provide the same information without a lot of kicking and screaming the the legal sense. So I guess Microsoft has that going for it...they were first to step up. Do you think that we will be getting more numbers in the near future from those companies considered Gatekeepers by the EU?

Yes. What I've learned since then is that the 772 disclosure did not come "from" Microsoft per se, but is rather a live number and that EU users will see that sort of pop-up in front of apps and websites all over the place. So this wasn't Microsoft self-reporting per se.

Do you attribute the vast discrepancy in the numbers between Microsoft and Meta is due to Microsoft being late to the game, or does it have more to do with Meta's footprint in mobile and their APIs?

Generally speaking, I attribute it to Meta having a bigger and more successful ad business. Which makes sense when you think about it, since this is the only way the company makes money. And yes, being on mobile helps as they track users when they use other apps too.

Any chance this will cause enough outrage here that lawmakers would act to reign in the issue? Never mind, nothing can make lawmakers here act.

We have to be realistic, but never say never. Enough outrage will move the needle. The problem is, we get outraged over the wrong things.
Pontificate? I live to pontificate
lindhartsen asks:

Hey Paul, may lean into a bit of pontificating for this question but curious what purpose Bing may serve for Microsoft moving forward. The attempt to attach the brand to the burgeoning excitement around AI appears to have fallen flat based on recent news reports.

We didn't write this up, but if you didn't see it elsewhere, Bing's overall usage share as measured by StatCounter went from 3.03 percent in December 2022 to 3.37 percent in December 2023. (Google's share fell from 92.58 percent to 91.62 percent in the same time frame, a difference of almost 1 percentage point.) That's a gain of 0.34 percentage points, which is what I'd call "flat," and it corroborates the August report that resulted in my article Cute, But Not a Game Changer (Premium): Despite several billion do...