(Washington) Google was set to drop user-tracking cookies on its Chrome browser starting this summer, but the online search giant announced a reversal Monday after years of resistance from online publishers and questions from regulators.
Cookies are computer files that allow tracking users’ browsing on the web. So-called “third-party” cookies come from the sites visited and not from the browser itself, to target Internet users with personalized advertising.
Instead of removing third-party cookies as planned, Google will “roll out a new experience in Chrome that lets people make informed choices across the web,” Anthony Chavez, a Google vice president, said in a blog post.
The proposal is subject to approval by regulatory authorities, including in Britain and the European Union (EU), which have opened investigations into the proposed new practice.
The American group clarified that it is not abandoning the “Privacy Sandbox”, its initiative launched in early 2020 to replace cookies and facilitate advertising targeting without tracking users individually. It plans to continue to make it available to third-party websites.
“We are disappointed that Google has changed its plans,” Stephen Bonner, for the ICO, the British authority on data protection and access to information, reacted on Monday.
We believe that blocking third-party cookies would be a step forward for consumers.
Stephen Bonner, for the ICO
“Despite Google’s decision, we continue to encourage the digital advertising industry to develop more privacy-friendly alternatives and not rely on even more opaque tracking methods.”
Long criticized by many associations who see them as an attack on privacy, cookies are subject to strict regulation in the EU and elsewhere, including California.
In Europe, under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), websites must ask users for permission to use them.
But website publishers, who depend on cookies for advertising revenue, are opposed to abandoning them.
They believe the Privacy Sandbox project risks reinforcing Google’s dominance, since the company holds mountains of data on consumer behavior that will be denied to others.