The long-awaited farewell to third-party cookies in Google Chrome has been postponed once again, now to January 2025. The basis for this new postponement would be the concerns of the English antitrust authority, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
Google had announced the deprecation of third-party cookies already in 2020, but the actual farewell was always postponed. The start of an experimental phase was expected in 2024, which would first involve 1% of Google Chrome users and then be extended to all users. However, Google has announced a further postponement, this time to January 2025.
Apparently, in its latest report the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) of the United Kingdom expressed some doubts about Privacy Sandbox, the alternative to Google's third-party cookies. In particular, Privacy Sandbox would neither allow fair competition – further increasing Google's dominant position in the digital advertising market – nor guarantee user privacy.
For its part, Google said it was willing to collaborate with the authorities and industry professionals to find a solution that protects the right to privacy and the profit of advertisers. The review of these processes and the reaching of a new agreement with the authorities forced the company to once again postpone saying goodbye to cookies.
What are third-party cookies?
Cookies are small text files that are installed on the browser or device of users after they have given consent. While first-party cookies are managed directly by the website owner, third-party cookies are installed by third-party companies, which can thus track users to show them personalized ads. If you have a site, you can check which cookies are installed by third parties through a cookie scanner.
The use of this technology has often been criticized precisely because it is invasive from the point of view of privacy. So, since 2019, browsers like Mozilla and Safari have started blocking third-party cookies as a default option. For example, Mozilla has launched Total Cookie Protection, which blocks user tracking across multiple sites and simply records activity on the site you are visiting.
The issue becomes more complex with Google Chrome because it is the most used browser in the world and the one on which advertisers rely most, so cookie deprecation becomes a delicate matter. With its Privacy Sandbox, Google wants to offer an alternative that protects the interests of both parties, but obviously there will be changes for advertisers.
The future without cookies promises to be a future much more focused on first-party data, acquired directly from users, with a greater focus on contextual and relationship marketing. Now more than ever it becomes important to build a solid relationship with users, through valuable content that solves the problems of your target.