Google plans to keep third-party cookies in its Chrome browser, after years of promising to phase out the tiny packets of code designed to track users across the internet.
The major shift comes amid concerns from advertisers – the company’s main source of revenue – that the loss of cookies in the world’s most popular browser will limit their ability to collect information to personalize ads, making them dependent on Google’s user databases.
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has also scrutinised Google’s plan, citing concerns it could hamper competition in digital advertising.
“Instead of removing third-party cookies, we would introduce a new experience in Chrome that allows users to make an informed choice that applies to all of their web browsing, and they would be able to adjust that choice at any time,” Anthony Chavez, vice president of the Google-backed Privacy Sandbox initiative, said in a blog post.
Since 2019, the Alphabet unit has been working on the Privacy Sandbox initiative aimed at improving online privacy while supporting digital businesses, with the primary goal of phasing out third-party cookies.
Cookies are packets of information that allow websites and advertisers to identify individual Internet users and track their browsing habits, but they can also be used for unwanted surveillance purposes.
In the European Union, the use of cookies is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which stipulates that publishers must obtain explicit consent from users to store their cookies. Major browsers also offer the ability to delete cookies on command.
Chavez said Google was working with regulators such as the CMA and the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office, as well as publishers and privacy groups on the new approach, while continuing to invest in the Privacy Sandbox program.
The announcement drew mixed reactions.
“Advertisers will no longer have to prepare to suddenly abandon third-party cookies,” eMarketer analyst Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf said in a statement.
Lena Cohen, a technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said cookies can cause harm to consumers, for example by delivering predatory advertising targeted at vulnerable groups.
“Google’s decision to continue allowing third-party cookies, despite other major browsers having blocked them for years, is a direct consequence of their ad-driven business model,” Cohen said in a statement.