Google has repeatedly delayed the end of third-party cookies in Chrome. Now it says it’s best not to delete them

Since January 2020, Google has been saying that Chrome will no longer support third-party cookies. This move, which called for “redesigning web standards” in the interest of user privacywith direct implications on the digital advertising market, has been delayed time and again for different reasons.

Despite the constant postponements, everything seemed to indicate that sooner or later third-party cookies would end up being rejected in the most popular web browser on the planet. However, time has passed and the Mountain View company has changed its mind. Now it believes that it is better not to eliminate cookies.

Long live cookies?

Anthony Chavez, VP of Privacy Sandbox, has announced Just a few hours ago Google had in mind to launch a New experience in Chrome. This consists of allowing users to make informed decisions about their browsing preferences instead of opting out of using third-party cookies.

And what does that have to do Privacy Sandbox What is involved in all this? Precisely, it is the initiative through which Google has developed different solutions for the gradual elimination of third-party cookies. Within this initiative we have found proposals such as FLoC and Topics, which did not end up taking off.

Google’s proposals have encountered difficulties in reconcile opinions between the different players in this industry, namely between regulators, developers and users. This latest move, in fact, comes after comments from the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), among others.

Mountain View now claims to have taken what it has learned to design solutions that support both publishers and advertisers while improving privacy. It remains to be seen how these promises will materialize and, above all, when they will do so or whether they will continue to be a cause for delays.

It should be noted that Privacy Sandbox will not go away. This initiative will remain in force and in full development by Google. However, it has been far from universally welcomed. Some regulators have you asked yourself whether it would end up giving more power to Google and, consequently, limiting competition.

For the time being, third-party cookies will remain unbanned in Google Chrome. These, it should be recalled, are a key element of targeted advertising. As such, they can be used by the advertising industry to track users’ activity on the web and create detailed user profiles.

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