third-party cookies

Google has revised its Privacy Sandbox initiative, moving away from its earlier decision to eliminate third-party cookies. The initiative has been influenced by extensive feedback from various stakeholders, including the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), publishers, and the advertising industry.

Instead of phasing out third-party cookies as initially planned, Google is now implementing a new user experience in Chrome that allows individuals to make informed decisions about their privacy settings during web browsing. This new approach allows users to modify their privacy preferences at any time, reflecting a significant change in strategy.

Third-party cookies are on their way out. Google plans to disable third-party cookie support in Chrome for all users later this year. Mozilla and Apple announced plans to drop support for third-party cookies in their browsers, Firefox and Safari, as well.

Microsoft announced its plans for a third-party cookie-less future this week. Third-party cookie support is eliminated in Microsoft Edge in the near future.

Google has been busy working on Privacy Sandbox for some time, and now the company is ready to unleash some of its tools on the public.

Starting with Chrome 115, Google says that it will be making the Privacy Sandbox relevance and measurement APIs available to all users of the browser. The move gives developers a better chance to work with the APIs, and is part of Google’s drive to deprecating third-party cookies in Chrome in the second half of next year.