Google’s plan to remove cookies crumbles

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Advertisers had previously argued that removing cookies from Google’s browser Chrome would destroy their business models

Google has scrapped plans to phase out the use of tracking cookies, instead saying they will prompt users to turn them on or off.

The move comes as a significant U-turn on the company’s approach to consumer privacy, having said as recently as February that they were still planning on removing cookies from Chrome.

Following the lead of competing browsers including Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox, Google first pledged to remove third-party cookies back in 2020, saying they would do so within two years.

Cookies – small text files inserted into users’ browsers to track their browsing habits – have long been a cornerstone of the advertising industry, allowing for the delivery of more targeted ads. As such, the decision to remove cookies entirely was met with strong resistance by the advertising industry.

Anti-competition regulators proved similarly uneasy about the decision, suggesting that the ban on cookies would allow Google to charge advertisers even more for ad-targeting services.

Following the opening of an official antitrust investigation by UK regulators in 2021, Google’s plans for the switch-off quickly fell behind schedule. The company’s initial technology expected to replace cookies, called ‘Floc’, was found to be incompatible with privacy policies. Instead, a ‘new path for privacy’ was quickly formulated, centred around Google’s new ‘Privacy Sandbox’.

The Privacy Sandbox is a broader move by Google to create web standards that will allow websites to access user information without compromising privacy. This approach focusses on the removal of third-party tracking cookies while still allowing for a subset of user private information to be shared with advertisers.

However, initial testing of the new Privacy Sandbox last year has failed to convince regulators of its effectiveness, with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office describing the technologies used a “deeply flawed”.

Google argues that the Privacy Sandbox still represents an effective long-term solution to the issues of consumer privacy, but more work is still required before a global rollout.

“We recognise this transition requires significant work by many participants and will have an impact on publishers, advertisers and everyone involved in online advertising,” said Anthony Chavez, Google’s manager in charge of its Privacy Sandbox project. “In light of this, we are proposing an updated approach that elevates user choice […] We’re discussing this new path with regulators and will engage with the industry as we roll this out.”

The decision will likely to be met with jubilation by advertisers that rely on third-party cookies, but privacy regulators are less enthusiastic, with the UK’s Information Commissioner Office saying it will monitor the situation closely.

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