Google Chrome will end third-party cookies very soon
It's been in the works for a while and is now here It's finally here - Google has made clear plans to block third-party cookies from Chrome.
December 16, 2023 06:27
The search engine has taken its time. They are 4 years ahead of Firefox and Mozilla's Firefox browser, and the Apple Safari browser. But, with their alternative tracking system, called 'Privacy Sandbox now in place It's time to put an end to the tracking cookies within Chrome at once and for all.
When will third-party cookies be removed from Chrome?
In just a few weeks In just a couple of weeks, as per the latest release from Google themselves.
In a blog post on Wednesday (Dec.14), Anthony Chavez the vice president of Privacy Sandbox wrote: "On January 4, we'll start testing Tracking Protection, a new feature that limits cross-site tracking by limiting website access to third-party cookies automatically.
"We'll roll this out to 1% of Chrome users globally, one of the major milestones of our Privacy Sandbox initiative to eliminate third-party cookies for everyone during the second half of 2024, subject to addressing any remaining concerns about competition from British authorities' Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)."
What are third-party cookies used to do and why is it significant?
Third-party Cookies are small bits of information stored in your browser by websites other than the one you're currently browsing. These cookies are made by third-party companies or domains that are not the primary websites that you interact with. They're used for personalizing advertising and website analytics by tracking user behavior across different websites.
It is crucial to stop them for online businesses as cookies help websites earn money by enabling targeted advertising. Achieving targeted ads means better performance of ads, which means more revenue for publishers, advertisers, and online platforms.
Google's plans to remove third-party cookies from Chrome - the world's most popular web browser - will not go unchallenged. A variety of antitrust probes from both CMA and the EU Commission and the CMA are ongoing.
Thousands of advertisers rely on cookies to generate revenue and their job is likely to become more difficult shortly. Publishers are also concerned. It is becoming more difficult to monetize websites and ad yields fall. This could lead to a decrease in the quality of the content that we view online. Or, more likely, we'll see more publishers switching to subscription-based models and more emphasis on first-party data capture - most typically done through registration with the website.
But what about the tiny man, the uninitiated internet browser? The end of third-party cookies has a lot of positives. Firstly we become harder to track( "harder" but still it's not impossible). In addition, it fulfills the ever-growing demands of consumers to be more secure with their data.
What's the Google Chrome's new "Tracking Protection"?
It's the basic function that prevents websites from using the cookies of third parties to follow your movements as you move around the web.
Google has stated that we will not be able to access everything in one go. Participants will be picked at random and will receive a message when they launch Chrome on desktops or Android.
In the coming months, it will be rolled out to many more users.
