In January this year, Google announced that it will be getting rid of third-party cookies by 2023, with the introduction of a new targeting proposal known as Topics. However, Google announced yesterday that they will be expanding their testing period for its Privacy Sandbox and other alternative tracking tools.
The premise behind doing so is that it will give Google more time to adjust to industry feedback amidst the coming shift.
As said by Google:
“Improving people’s privacy, while giving businesses the tools they need to succeed online, is vital to the future of the open web. That’s why we started the Privacy Sandbox initiative to collaborate with the ecosystem on developing privacy-preserving alternatives to third-party cookies and other forms of cross-site tracking. Over the past several months, we’ve released trial versions of a number of new Privacy Sandbox APIs in Chrome for developers to test.”
“The most consistent feedback we’ve received is the need for more time to evaluate and test the new Privacy Sandbox technologies before deprecating third-party cookies in Chrome. This feedback aligns with our commitment to the CMA to ensure that the Privacy Sandbox provides effective, privacy-preserving technologies and the industry has sufficient time to adopt these new solutions. This deliberate approach to transitioning from third-party cookies ensures that the web can continue to thrive, without relying on cross-site tracking identifiers or covert techniques like fingerprinting.”
Google has said that they intend to start phasing out third-party cookies in Chrome in the second half of 2024. You can find a full list of up-to-date timelines are milestones on the Privacy Sandbox website.
