Google scraps plan to remove cookies from Chrome

Google is to maintain third-party cookies in its Chrome browser, it announced on Monday, despite years of promises to phase out the tiny packets of code used to track users on the internet.

The huge turnaround comes after advertisers, the company’s main source of revenue, expressed concerns that the loss of cookies in the world’s most popular browser will limit their capacity to collect information for targeting advertising, forcing them to rely on Google’s user databases.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority had also looked at Google’s idea, citing fears that it would stifle competition in digital advertising.

“Instead of deprecating third-party cookies, we would introduce a new experience in Chrome that lets people make an informed choice that applies across their web browsing, and they’d 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 company has been working on the Privacy Sandbox program, which aims to improve online privacy while supporting digital businesses, with a primary goal being the elimination of third-party cookies.

Cookies are data packets that allow websites and marketers to identify individual web surfers and follow their browsing behavior; however, they can also be used for unwanted surveillance.

In the European Union, the usage of cookies is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which requires publishers to obtain users’ explicit agreement to store their cookies. Major browsers also have the ability to remove cookies on demand.

Chavez stated that Google was collaborating with regulators such as the UK’s CMA and Information Commissioner’s Office, as well as publishers and privacy groups, on the new strategy, while continuing to invest in the Privacy Sandbox program.

The announcement elicited varied reactions.

“Advertising stakeholders will no longer have to prepare to quit third-party cookies cold turkey,” said Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf, an analyst at eMarketer.

According to Lena Cohen, a staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, cookies can cause consumer harm, such as predatory marketing targeting vulnerable groups. “Google’s decision to continue allowing third-party cookies, despite other major browsers blocking them for years, is a direct consequence of their advertising-driven business model,” Cohen told reporters.