After years of delay looking for an alternative for the Chrome browser, Google announced on Monday that it will no longer cancel third-party cookies. Using third-party cookies has always been a practice by advertisers around the world and according to the tech giant, would impact the online advertisement industry.
Cookies are small data pieces stored on a user’s device by websites to manage sessions, personalize experiences, and track user behavior. They help maintain login status, remember preferences, and collect analytics data for improving user experience and targeted advertising.
There are two types: first-party cookies set by the visited website and third-party cookies set by other domains for tracking purposes. While useful, cookies raise privacy concerns, leading to increased regulation and a shift towards alternative tracking methods.
Earlier in 2020, Google announced that it would stop support for those cookies once it figured out a means to address the needs of users, advertisers, and publishers, hopefully before early 2022.
As a result, the tech giant established its Privacy Sandbox, an initiative geared at finding a solution to protect its user’s privacy while making content freely available on the web.
By January 2020, Google was showing promising results in its quest to replace cookies, which included the introduction of what they called “Federated Learning of Cohorts”.
This means that Google would place users in groups based on similar browsing behaviors and target them using “cohort IDs” instead of individual user IDs.
However, in 2021, the company pushed back the timeline, stating that the digital advertising industry requires more time to adjust to more privacy-conscious ads.
By 2022, Google announced that reports show advertisers needing more time to move to Google’s cookie replacement, stating that some claimed the transition would affect their businesses.
According to Google, after thorough testing, the transition will require significant work by numerous participants.
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 are discussing this new path with regulators and will engage with the industry as we roll this out.
Anthony Chavez, VP of Privacy Sandbox