Google Chrome’s Cookie Crackdown Crumbles

Google’s years-long effort to help users migrate away from third-party cookies is crumbling as the company has decided to settle for the status quo. 

The company originally planned to show Chrome users a pop-up that would nudge them to try Google’s alternative to third-party cookies in the Privacy Sandbox API. But on Tuesday, the search giant said it’s nixing the approach.

“Taking all of these factors into consideration, we’ve made the decision to maintain our current approach to offering users third-party cookie choice in Chrome, and will not be rolling out a new standalone prompt for third-party cookies,” the company said in a blog post. “Users can continue to choose the best option for themselves in Chrome’s Privacy and Security Settings.”

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Why the U-turn? The company didn’t offer a clear explanation, but noted that much has changed since Google first announced its plan to phase out cookies in 2019. This includes the “regulatory landscape around the world,” which Google says has “evolved considerably.”

So it’s possible the company feared intervention from regulators amid Google’s ongoing antitrust battles. Last week, a federal judge ruled that Google has a monopoly in key sectors of the online display ads business. Although the company will appeal the decision, the ruling could force the search giant to sell off its ad business. Meanwhile, another case has the Justice Department urging the court to force Google to sell off Chrome.

Google’s cookie announcement comes after it already scaled back plans to ditch third-party cookies in Chrome, which was supposed to start in 2022 and render cookies “obsolete.” But after repeated delays, the company last year settled on giving users a choice, rather than deprecating third-party cookies entirely, before Tuesday’s surprise announcement.

Third-party cookies are notorious for helping analytics firms and advertisers track users’ activities, potentially violating their online privacy. In response, Google spent years creating an alternative. Its solution, the Privacy Sandbox, was designed to serve ads based on topics by tracking users’ browser activities in bulk, thereby preventing an advertiser from profiling users individually.

Despite the privacy benefits, Google’s alternative didn’t sit well with regulators and critics, who feared it could give the company even more control over the online ad ecosystem. 

The future of the Privacy Sandbox is now murky. In the blog post, the company merely says: “In light of this update, we understand that the Privacy Sandbox APIs may have a different role to play in supporting the ecosystem. We’ll engage with the industry to gather feedback and share an updated roadmap for these technologies, including our future areas of investment, in the coming months.”

In addition, Google notes that it’ll “continue to enhance tracking protections in Chrome’s Incognito mode, which already blocks third-party cookies by default.” Users can also go to “chrome://settings/cookies” to manually block third-party cookies.

About Michael Kan

Senior Reporter

I’ve been working as a journalist for over 15 years—I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017.

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