Google Reverses Cookies Closure in Chrome to the Relief of Advertisers [CNET]

Google will keep third-party cookies in Chrome, but will give you the option to opt out.

Google is cancelling its plans to kill off third-party cookies in Chrome, it said in a blog post on Monday. The decision comes after four years trying to appease both regulators and advertising companies over with its Privacy Sandbox solution.

Cookies are small bits of data that track browsing histories across the web to serve personalized ads to browsers. Instead of replacing cookies with Google’s Privacy Sandbox, a system that was meant to develop a profile on a person’s likes and dislikes for advertisers without needing to rely on a trove of browsing and search history, the company will soon allow Chrome users to opt out of third-party tracking cookies entirely. While the implementation of Privacy Sandbox was more secure, and put Chrome in line with competing web browsers such as Apple’s Safari, Mozilla Firefox, Brave and Microsoft Edge, Google acknowledged that the transition “requires significant work” from everyone in the online advertising space. It also gave Google much more control over valuable consumer data. 

Google initially planned to kill off third-party tracking cookies in Chrome by 2022, but was constantly met with setbacks.

“We are proposing an updated approach that elevates user choice,” said Anthony Chavez, Google’s vice president of Privacy Sandbox in a blog post. “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.”

Google declined a request for comment. 

Third-party tracking cookies have been a part of the online advertising landscape for decades. They make up an industry that’s expected to reach $723 billion by 2026, according to PWC. Advertisers use cookies to find out exactly what individual people like and then places relevant advertising against those likes. Tracking cookies, however, bring privacy concerns, such revealing someone’s online habits or using data to discriminate against certain groups. The data is also valuable to hackers. Advertisers and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority objected to Google’s Privacy Sandbox plans, arguing that it’d hurt the online ad market and made companies even more reliant on Google’s ad products. 

Chrome is currently the most popular web browser in the world, with 66% global market share, according to Statcounter. Not only that, Google is also the world’s most popular search engine, with a monstrous 91% global market share. Considering Google made $237 billion in revenue in 2023 from online ads alone, of which it too controls a marketplace and places ads directly in Search for, it gives the company outsized influence in the online advertising market. It’s also imperative to Google’s shareholders that advertisers return. 

“Google’s decision to continue allowing third-party cookies, despite other major browsers blocking them for years, is a direct consequence of their advertising-driven business model,” said Lena Cohen, staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights advocacy group, in a statement. “With nearly 80% of Google’s revenue derived from online advertising, it’s clear why Chrome is putting advertisers’ interests above users’ privacy.”

Google isn’t killing off Privacy Sandbox entirely, and will still make the APIs available. Google also says it’ll continue to consult with the CMA and other regulators on its “journey to a more private web.”