Yahoo is ending its open login deals with Facebook and Google, a sign that the embattled web giant is now seeking greater independence from its larger rivals in the battle for ad dollars.
The move means that users will need Yahoo ID to access the various Yahoo properties including Flickr.
The move is the latest change CEO Marrisa Meyer has made to the company’s operations, and is part of an effort to “continually improve the user experience”, allowing Yahoo to offer the best personalised experience to everyone”.
Facebook and Google sign in buttons will eventually be removed from all Yahoo sites, according to a Yahoo spokeswoman.
In eliminating the Facebook and Google sign-in features, Mayer, a former Google executive, is effectively reversing a strategy that Yahoo adopted in 2010 and 2011 under then CEO Carol Bartz.
Yahoo is hoping that the move will give them more targeted data, in turn getting actually wants to do the same thing as its rivals: slurp up more targeted data to satisfy admen by offering services that are neatly tied to identity credentials.