2 weeks Ago By Kahekashan
Google has officially scrapped its long-standing plan to phase out third-party cookies in its Chrome browser, signalling a major shift in its privacy strategy. In an update released Tuesday, Anthony Chavez, Vice President of Google’s Privacy Sandbox, stated that the company has chosen “to maintain our current approach to offering users third-party cookie choice in Chrome.” This decision effectively ends Google’s Privacy Sandbox initiative, which was first introduced in 2020.
The project aimed to develop alternatives to third-party cookies while enhancing user privacy, including features like the Topics API, which proposed assigning interests based on browsing behaviour to serve relevant ads. However, the initiative faced ongoing delays and mounting criticism from privacy advocates, advertisers, and global regulators. Opponents of the Privacy Sandbox, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), argued that it still enabled behavioural tracking, urging users to opt out.
The backlash intensified recently when a U.S. judge found that Google “willfully engaged in a series of anticompetitive acts” in the digital advertising sector.
In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has also been investigating whether Google’s proposals might unfairly tip the balance in its favour. Despite Google’s earlier promise to let users opt into a cookie-less Chrome, the company has now confirmed that it won’t roll out a new standalone prompt for cookie controls. “As we’ve engaged with the ecosystem, including publishers, developers, regulators, and the ads industry, it remains clear that there are divergent perspectives on making changes that could impact the availability of third-party cookies,” Chavez explained.
Critics of the initiative see this as a major win. The Movement for an Open Web (MOW), which lodged a complaint with the CMA in 2020, called the move an “admission” of defeat. “Google’s intention was to remove open and interoperable communications standards to bring digital advertising traffic under their sole control and, with this announcement, that aim is now over,” said MOW co-founder James Rosewell in a statement to a famous publication.
“They’ve recognised that the regulatory obstacles to their monopolistic project are insurmountable and have given up.” Google’s decision marks a significant moment in the ongoing debate over privacy, data control, and competition in the digital advertising world..
