- It won’t rid tracking cookies or push out user boxes to opt out of them.
Google is not going to do anything to change how third-party cookies work in the Chrome web browser. Rather, as announced by Google VP for Privacy Sandbox Anthony Chavez, the company has "decided to maintain [its] current approach to giving users third-party cookie choice in Chrome." It will also not "roll out a new standalone prompt for third-party cookies," an option that would have allowed users to opt out of tracking by advertisers. Google's announcement comes after a federal judge ruled it held an illegal monopoly in online advertising.
The firm had initially pledged to phase out third-party tracking cookies in 2022 as part of its Privacy Sandbox initiative, which aims to make the web more secure and private to use. But a series of setbacks and regulatory roadblocks — the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the US Department of Justice both looked into Google's initiative for fear it could harm smaller advertisers — pushed off the planned deprecation to 2024 and then later to 2025.
Google had ultimately decided last year that it wouldn't kill off third-party cookies and would instead bring in "a new experience in Chrome that lets people make an informed choice that applies across their web browsing." That new experience has yet to materialize. In the new announcement, Chavez said that the ecosystem has evolved significantly since the launch of the Privacy Sandbox initiative, and that Google has taken into account new privacy-enhancing technologies that protect people as they browse the web when forming its decision.
Despite scrapping all of its plans to remove third-party cookies from Chrome, the tech giant will still keep the Privacy Sandbox initiative running. According to Chavez, Google will keep enhancing tracking protections in Chrome's incognito mode, like launching IP Protection later this year, and is working to improve features including Safe Browsing, Safety Check, and built-in password protections.
