Google has changed its mind about 'killing' third-party tracking cookies

Four years ago, Google made a surprising announcement: It was going to "phase out" cookies, which allow third parties to track users on Google Chrome.

Even though Google shared it was going to take a few years to find a new middle ground to avoid a total disruption of the online advertising industry, this was seen as a pretty big win for user privacy advocates.

Well, Google just announced on Monday that it was scrapping its cookie-ditching plans.

According to Google, the search giant will not kill third-party cookies. Instead, Google plans on introducing a new feature in Chrome that allows users to make an informed decision that affects their entire web browsing experience.

Google backtracks on cookies

Google originally shared its intent to depreciate third-party cookies back in 2020. Cookies are breadcrumbs of data stored on users' devices that store logins, website preferences, and – most notably – allow third parties to track users for targeted advertising purposes.

However, while Google shared its intent to kill cookies, the company made it clear that it would take a few years as they worked out solutions with the ad industry. Regulators in the UK and EU also shared concerns with Google regarding expediting the removal of cookies as it could be unfair to competitors.

However, there was some movement on Google's goal to end cookies earlier this year. In January 2024, Google began rolling out the Privacy Sandbox to a very small percentage of Google Chrome users. Google's Privacy Sandbox is essentially its answer to cookies.

The user privacy-focused product replaces cookies with an Ad Topics API, which sorts users into ad categories that third parties use to serve ads. It seemed like a good common ground that Google was searching for. Companies can still advertise to targeted consumers and individual users aren't tracked by third parties.

However, on Monday, Google shared that it's reversing course on killing off cookies outright in a post titled "A new path for Privacy Sandbox on the web." Google said it received feedback from developers, publishers, regulators, and the ad industry — and decided to go with an alternative solution.

Google did not share the details of exactly what this "new experience in Chrome that lets people make an informed choice that applies across their web browsing" will be. The announcement post was authored by Anthony Chavez, the VP of Google's Privacy Sandbox, who discussed the success of the product in achieving its privacy-focused goals.

But based on Google's announcement, it appears the pivot here is that Google will still allow third-party cookies by default and potentially provide a Privacy Sandbox-powered user privacy mode as an alternative option.

Whatever Google's "new experience" is, cookies aren't going anywhere. The search giant may provide users with more privacy-focused choices, but a more advertiser-friendly clearly won out.