I am speaking from a position with a fair bit of inside knowledge within the industry. Executive decisions do not mirror the whole workplace. Frequently there are engineers and employees who, despite the position they put themselves in, speak up for the end users cause. This is shown time and again through leaks, inquiries, and whistleblowing. It is an exhausting position to take and in most cases a thankless job. Seeing someone applaud your efforts, regardless of outcome, can be a meaningful morale boost.

Speaking directly to this topic: tags exist and already are being used. Recall that it is not just Google who provides these… apple and other platforms do as well. They have their use which arguably was the intent originally… but as with all tools they can be abused. Apple and Google have acknowledged this but it is difficult to put the genie back in the bottle… so solutions must be provided. This is one of those solutions. It’s a start- and will likely result in some people being protected where they otherwise would not have been. That is praiseworthy in my opinion. It is in its own way a check against unregulated tracking that is user controlled. That is good. Does it change the company or its mandate? No. But these are two different things.