Google has already offered users the possibility to block third-party cookies, but this required users to act independently, which proved to be inefficient. Only complete elimination from Chrome browser can guarantee full effectiveness. This seemingly drastic step of blocking cookies by Google was inevitable after Chrome browser competitors, including Firefox and Safari Apple, blocked third-party cookies, thus exerting pressure on Google to do the same.
Google is open to ideas on privacy and security, but is looking for more than quick adjustments. He also notes some the dangers that may arise from blocking cookies in browsers alone without proposing an alternative solution.
Consequences of removing cookies
- First,, blocking large-scale cookies violates the privacy of users by encouraging advertisers to use opaque techniques such as fingerprinting. Fingerprinting uses some browser features – such as installed fonts, screen size, or browser version to clearly identify the person using it. Unlike cookies, virtual fingerprints are much harder to detect, and user profiles cannot be easily removed. Users cannot clear their fingerprint and therefore cannot control the way information is collected.
- Secondly,, blocking cookies without any other way of collecting data to display relevant ads significantly reduces the basic financial resources of publishers, which threatens Google's advertising future. Recent studies have shown that when advertising becomes less appropriate, it is following the removal of cookies that publishers' funding falls on average 52%.
The answer to the dangers of blocking cookies is presented by Google in one of August Posts project Privacy Sandbox. This initiative is likely to respond to increasing privacy pressure and partially respond to increasing cookies blocking by others.
Privacy sandbox instead of cookies
The proposed set of open standards is intended to use five application programming interfaces. Privacy Sandbox will be based on data collected by Chrome browsers that are not cookies. However, advertisers will still be able to match ads to internet users. Only anonymous and aggregated data on problems such as conversion or distribution will be made available to them. Most data will only be stored on the devices of the users themselves. Adoption privacy sandboxes allow Chrome to completely opt out of cookie service third parties.
Another asset of the Privacy Sandbox project is the open source nature of this solution. Google seeks to ensure that everyone – both users and advertisers – can participate actively in the development of the project. They will be able to suggest changes and signal their needs. The proposed standard aims to encourage other browsers to also implement at their home That's the solution..
Google describes this decision as a way to build a "more private network", but since most of these changes occur behind the scenes, Chrome users may not notice how the change affects their privacy. . But it's a big change. It will significantly (or completely) reduce the number of third-party cookies that users encounter during their daily lives on the Internet. They will thus be protected from advertising companies that they have never heard of and did not know They're being followed..
However, the Privacy Sandbox project met with numerous criticisms. It was claimed that the privacy sandbox proposal did not go far enough in the protection of Chrome users' data. So far, work on Sandbox is still under way. Therefore, in order to meet the expectations of users, it was decided that in two years' time, all third-party cookies should be removed from Chrome.
Will all cookies disappear with Chrome?
Not all cookies will be eliminated by Google. We distinguish our own cookies (so-called first party) which are collected by the visited domain and used by tools for analysis, for example. Google Analytics. In their case, no changes are planned.
The second type of cookies is third-party cookies, which are collected by other entities and are intended to help advertisers track user activity on the Internet and to match the corresponding advertising content based on them. This type of cookie will be eliminated completely from the browser in 2022. Google Chrome.
Problem for advertisers...
A third order of cookies will surely be pleased by those internet users who do not want advertisers to follow their activities throughout the Internet. They demand greater privacy, including transparency, choice and control over how their data is used.
On the other hand, there are advertisers who, on the basis of third-party cookies, gain access to information about the pages visited, the frequency of their visits, or the location. This enables them to display individually selected advertisements to users and measure their effectiveness. Websites often contain third-party cookies from many advertising companies. . They form the backbone of the digital advertising ecosystem.
When third-party cookies are completely excluded, advertisers will have trouble targeting or optimizing advertising, not to mention problems with distribution. In particular, this problem may occur on the GDN network, which primarily uses third party cookies. The lack of new solutions for advertisers will result in a drastic fall in advertising spending, which also means less earnings for publishers.
...but not for Google
The cancellation of third-party cookies is, however, a great solution for Google itself, which, unlike competition among digital advertisers, does not have to rely on third-party cookies to drive its mass advertising activity. However, in order to meet the needs of both users and publishers and advertisers, Google continues to work on a new project (the above mentioned Privacy Sandbox) to maximize the security and privacy of the use of the network while supporting it by advertising.
Given that the work on Privacy Sandbox is still underway, and Google has already announced the blocking of third-order cookies, there is a major revolution that is probably not yet ready.
One thing is certain – remarketing in Google will continue to work effectively, because in this case the company collects information about users from the search engine, Gmail, YouTube, or Google Maps. However, advertisers who have used CDP or DMP for data management so far face a huge challenge. They will have to fill the void with Chrome-locked cookies and find another solution for data acquisition. We have nothing to do but to observe and analyse the industry's reactions to the announced changes.
