Google has scrapped its controversial plan to eliminate third-party cookies on Chrome after years of delays and false starts.
Google first announced its plans to phase out third-party cookies — files that track users’ web browsing activity in order to better target advertising — in January 2020, saying it would happen “within two years”. After pushback from the advertising industry, the deadline was extended three separate times.
Now Google is proposing a one-time opt-in cookies prompt, that will allow the user to decide how they are tracked while using Chrome.
“We are proposing an updated approach that elevates user choice,” Anthony Chavez, vice-president of Google’s Privacy Sandbox wrote in a blog overnight.
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“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.”
Andrea Martens, CEO of the Association for Data-Driven Marketing and Advertising, which is the country’s principal industry body for data-driven marketing and advertising, said this new decision “aligns with the transparency requirements under Australia’s proposed privacy reforms”.
“Customers expect to have control over how their data is used, and any move to provide better control should be welcomed by marketers. It is a key factor in building consumer trust in the marketing ecosystem,” Martens said, noting the ADMA is encouraged by this new approach, “rather than dogmatically pursuing a solution that would not benefit either the consumer or the marketer”.
Martens said that “while putting more control into consumers’ hands will likely see a reduction in third-party cookie tracking over time, the ability to still use third-party cookies will take some pressure off those who are still heavily reliant on them”.
“While today’s announcement may provide some marketers’ relief, ADMA urges the industry not to be complacent or throw away the good work they have done in developing a post-cookie strategy,” she said.
“There is already a move away from relying on third-party cookie strategies as deprecation has already taken place across other browsers and consumer expectations regarding how their data is used, with consent, in fair and reasonable ways, is becoming the required standard.
“Those who embed their marketing strategies in these more evolved fundamental principles will be ahead of the curve in this new paradigm.”