In a victory for advertisers, Google has announced that it no longer will deprecate third-party cookies in Chrome. This abrupt reversal follows more than four years of efforts to develop tools that replicate the advertising performance and measurement capabilities of cookies while protecting user privacy.
Instead, Google will introduce a new prompt that lets users select how they want to be tracked while using the world’s dominant web browser. Consequently, users will continue to be tracked across websites, which will allow advertisers to target them with personalized ads.
On the positive side, this development could enhance marketing efforts and resource allocation directed at senior living communities and nursing facilities, ensuring that vendors reach the right audiences with their services and products.
Users hoping for enhanced privacy protections, however, will need to take other measures, such as installing ad-blockers or using privacy-focused browsers.
This development underscores the ongoing tension between user privacy and digital advertising.
In a related blog post, Vice President of Privacy Sandbox Anthony Chavez said that Google is “proposing an updated approach that elevates user choice” by allowing users to choose whether or not they want to enable cookies on Chrome and adjust that choice “at any time.”
“We’re discussing this new path with regulators and will engage with the industry as we roll this out,” he added.
Google said it will continue to invest in and make available its Privacy Sandbox APIs, which offer an alternative to third-party cookie tracking without compromising user privacy. It also will introduce IP Protection in Incognito browsing mode on Chrome.
The announcement comes after Google twice delayed the timeline to deprecate third-party cookies in Chrome since it first announced the decision in January 2020. Initially, the process was to be completed within two years, but in July 2022, the timeline was pushed to the second half of 2024.
This past April, it was further delayed until 2025, pending approval from regulators. Those delays occurred amid slow industry adoption of Google’s privacy-safe alternatives, which do not offer the same level of performance and cross-site measurement capabilities as cookie tracking.
