Google has ditched its long-running plan to get rid of third-party tracking cookies on Chrome, after more than four years of promising to do so to improve online privacy.
The tech giant revealed that it would no longer be banning third-party cookies from next year as previously planned in a Privacy Sandbox blog post, and will instead adopt an “updated approach that elevates user choice”.
It’s a major reversal from Google, which announced more than four years ago that it would be phasing out third-party cookies in an effort to better protect the privacy of its users.
Third-party cookies are small files saved on your computer or device that allow advertisers to track your activity across the internet then serve you personalised advertisements.
In the blog post, Google Privacy Sandbox VP Anthony Chavez said the decision to not go ahead with the plan to end third-party cookies was made after feedback from a variety of stakeholders, including regulators, publishers, developers, and the advertising industry.
“This feedback has helped us craft solutions that aim to support a competitive and thriving marketplace that works for publishers and advertisers, and encourage the adoption of privacy-enhancing technologies,” Chavez said.
This led to Google’s new approach that will maintain the use of these tracking cookies on Chrome.
“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,” Chavez said in the blog post.
The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said it was “disappointed” by Google’s U-turn.
“It has been our view that blocking third-party cookies would be a positive step for consumers,” ICO Deputy Commissioner Stephen Bonner said.
“The new plan set out by Google is a significant change and we will reflect on this new course of action when more detail is available.”
Breaking a four-year promise
The banning of third-party cookies was first announced in 2020 and after a series of delays, had been set to come into force at the start of next year.
In the announcement in early 2020, Google said that its new Privacy Sandbox would eventually render third-party cookies “obsolete”.
“Once these approaches have addressed the needs of users, publishers and advertisers, and we have developed the tools to mitigate workarounds, we plan to phase out support for third-party cookies in Chrome,” the company said more than four years ago.
In an update on the plan late last year, Google described the problem it was facing, saying third-party cookies “enable critical functionality across sign-in, fraud protection, advertising and generally the ability to embed rich, third-party content in your sites – but at the same time they’re also the key enablers of cross-site tracking”.
Earlier this year the company admitted it was receiving “divergent” feedback from stakeholders such as industry, regulators and developers, and announced a further delay to the plan.
New APIs
Google has also announced a new way to track people online that was going to take the place of the cookies, which it has dubbed “privacy-preserving APIs”.
The plan was to replace third-party cookies with its own technology, dubbed the Federated Learning of Cohorts, which would place users into groups rather than track them individually.
In the announcement this week, Google said that it would be continuing to maintain these new APIs.
“It remains important for developers to have privacy-preserving alternatives,” Chavez said.
“We’ll continue to make the Privacy Sandbox APIs available and invest in them to further improve privacy and utility.
“We look forward to continued collaboration with the ecosystem on the next phase of the journey to a more private web.”
Earlier this year, Google agreed to delete data that was collected while its users were operating in “incognito” mode following a class action lawsuit in the US.
Despite being called “incognito”, Google had continued to collect user data to sell to advertisers.
