Google reverses course, keeps cookies in Chrome

Cookies are small packets of information that websites and advertisers use to identify individual web surfers and track their browsing habits, but they can also be exploited for unwanted surveillance. In the European Union, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires publishers to obtain explicit user consent to store cookies. Major browsers also offer options to delete cookies on demand.The cookie removal was supposed to be the pinnacle of Google’s Privacy Sandbox initiative, launched in 2019, aiming to balance user privacy with targeted advertising needs. Third-party cookies were supposed to be phased out in two stages: starting in late 2022, the first stage was to allow the advertising industry to adapt over nine months. The second stage was to begin in mid-2023 and last three months, completing the phase-out by late 2023.

Google’s reverse of its long-standing promise to eliminate these small tracking codes is a significant change that probably comes in response to concerns from advertisers. They rely heavily on cookies to gather data for personalized advertising. Advertisers argued that removing cookies from the world’s leading browser would hinder their data collection efforts, forcing them to depend more on Google’s own user databases.

Additionally, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority had been examining Google’s original plan, worried that it might stifle competition in the digital advertising market.Anthony Chavez, vice president of the Google-backed Privacy Sandbox initiative, stated in a blog post that instead of eliminating third-party cookies, Google plans to introduce a new Chrome feature that allows users to make informed choices about their web browsing, with the flexibility to adjust these choices at any time.

Chavez mentioned that Google is collaborating with regulators like the UK’s CMA and Information Commissioner’s Office, as well as publishers and privacy groups, to develop this new approach, while continuing to invest in the Privacy Sandbox program.

The announcement received mixed reactions. Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf, an eMarketer analyst, noted that advertising stakeholders would no longer have to abruptly stop using third-party cookies. Lena Cohen, a staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, pointed out that cookies can lead to consumer harm, such as predatory ads targeting vulnerable groups.

What do you think? Will cookies ever be gone? And if so, will that even matter?