Google has announced that it will keep third-party cookies in its Chrome browser, backtracking on its years-long promise to scrap the tiny files of data that have been found to track users on the internet in multiple investigations.
The decision to keep the cookies was announced following concerns from Google’s advertisers, which constitute a large chunk of its billion-dollar business. The advertisers complained they wouldn’t be able to collect user information for personalised or behavourial advertising if cookies were scrapped.
“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,” reads a blog post by Anthony Chavez, who is the vice president of Sandbox, Google’s privacy initiative.
According to the statement, Google has taken up its approach on cookies with the regulators.
“We’re discussing this new path with regulators, and will engage with the industry as we roll this out,” Chavez said. “As this moves forward, it remains important for developers to have privacy-preserving alternatives.”
In 2020, Google claimed it would cease supporting cookies by the year 2022 that tracked the online activities of users. The potential development was subject to finding solutions regarding the needs of consumers and advertisers.
In June 2021, Google revised its timeline for the scrapping of third-party cookies so that the digital advertising market would have more time to assess and devise solutions for personalised advertising that wouldn’t undermine the privacy of consumers.
