Google Chrome has cookies, which are small text files that keep a track of the user’s browsers and track their online activity.
Google decides to reverse his decision to remove cookies from its Chrome web Browser. The four years of efforts on protecting user’s privacy comes to an end. It pledged for years to phase out the tiny invasive tracking technology which is meant to track users on the internet. Although the announcements drew mixed emotions.
This came into picture after major pushback and concerns from regulators and advertisers who are also the company’s biggest source of income. The loss of cookies in the world’s well known browser would limit their ability to collect information for personalized advertisements, leaving them reliant on Google’s user datasets.
The search giant unexpectedly announced the news of pursuing a new path for privacy which would give the users an option to turn cookies on or off, although retain them within Chrome. This decision makes a U-turn on the pledge made by Google in 2020 to eradicate all cross-website cookies in the span of two years. The plan was similar to the decision made by Apple of blocking third-party tracking by default on its Safari browser on privacy grounds.
Cookies are small text files that keep a track of the user’s browsers and track their online activity. They are the main tools that advertisers use to monitor users across many websites. Cookies further help to target the consumers with ads based on their interests.
In the European Union, the usage of cookies is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which requires publishers to obtain user’s explicit agreement to store their cookies. Major browsers also have the ability to remove cookies on demand.
The digital advertisers, ad techs and publishing industries found the move controversial and complained that it would affect their business models. Further enshrine Google’s advantage in consumer data collection over its advertisers and thereby force them to pay more for its ad-targeting services.
In 2021 the UK regulators began an investigation into whether Google’s ideas were anti-competitive as the project was behind schedule. While The company managed to relive the authority’s concern their first attempt to replace cookies was declined as it would not protect the user’s privacy. The cookies were supposed to be known as ‘floc’.
Google had until 2022 that gave the advertisers enough time to incorporate and adjust to the changes.
Google was firm on continuing and in February it removed some cookies and aims to switch off all third-party cookies by the end of the year. However, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office expressed concerns about the planned replacement technologies, calling them “deeply flawed,” which contributed to the decision to cancel.
“We recognize this transition requires significant work by many participants and will have an impact on publishers, advertisers and everyone involved in online advertising,” said Anthony Chavez, Google’s manager in charge of the Privacy Sandbox project.