Following years of delay, Google has announced that it will no longer allow advertisers to remove and replace third-party cookies from its Chrome web browser.
Cookies are text files that websites upload to a user’s browser so they can follow them around when they visit other websites. A large portion of the digital advertising ecosystem has been powered by this practice, which makes it possible to track people across many websites in order to target ads.
Google stated in 2020 that it would stop supporting certain cookies by the beginning of 2022 after determining how to meet the demands of users, publishers, and advertisers and developing solutions to make workarounds easier.
In order to do this, Google started the “Privacy Sandbox” project in an effort to find a way to safeguard user privacy while allowing material to be freely accessible on the public internet.
In January, Google declared that it was “extremely confident” in the advancement of its plans to replace cookies. One such proposal was “Federated Learning of Cohorts,” which would essentially group individuals based on similar browsing habits; thus, only “cohort IDs”—rather than individual user IDs—would be used to target them.
However, Google extended the deadline in June 2021 to allow the digital advertising sector more time to finalize strategies for better targeted ads that respect user privacy. Then, in 2022, the firm stated that feedback had indicated that advertisers required further time to make the switch to Google’s cookie replacement because some had resisted, arguing that it would have a major negative influence on their companies.
The business announced in a blog post on Monday that it has received input from regulators and advertisers, which has influenced its most recent decision to abandon its intention to remove third-party cookies from its browser.
According to the firm, testing revealed that the change would affect publishers, advertisers, and pretty much everyone involved in internet advertising and would require “significant work by many participants.”
Anthony Chavez, vice president of Privacy Sandbox, commented, “Instead of deprecating third-party cookies, we would introduce a new experience in Chrome that lets people make an informed choice that applies across their web browsing, and they’d be able to adjust that choice at any time.” “We’re discussing this new path with regulators and will engage with the industry as we roll it out.”