Google Now Finally started Killing the Third-Party Cookies

Google now started killing third-party cookies, but so far, only a tiny fraction of Chrome users, about one per cent, have leapt to privacy heaven. The tech giant had unveiled its plan to bid farewell to third-party cookies back in 2020. However, regulatory bodies in the EU and UK intervened, urging Google to slow down the process to ensure fairness to its competitors. This intervention prolonged the timeline, leading many to believe that those pesky cookie consent pop-ups would forever punctuate our online browsing experience.

But the fateful day has dawned: Google disabled cookie support for around 30 million users, accounting for about one per cent of Chrome users, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. If you haven’t joined the privacy party yet, your turn will arrive in the upcoming months. The big question is, can you endure the wait?

Google Now Finally started Killing the Third-Party Cookies

Cookies, those tiny data bits residing on our devices from visited websites, were initially intended to make life online more convenient. They stored logins and preferences, offering a smoother browsing experience. However, they gained notoriety for their surveillance capabilities, tracking users’ behaviours and crafting detailed profiles often exploited by companies for profit, leading to a loss of user control over personal information.

As cookies gradually phase out, Google aims to expand its “Privacy Sandbox initiative.” This project strives to establish a new ad customization system that bypasses the vague consent associated with conventional data tracking tools, all while ensuring that online content remains accessible to everyone, as outlined in Google’s Privacy Sandbox information page.

For those already part of the cookie-cutting rollout, updating to version 115 will prompt a popup titled “Enhanced ad privacy in Chrome.” While hints about this popup surfaced last year, millions of users only began encountering it recently as cookies began their decline.

This popup signals the onset of the shift from cookies to the Privacy Sandbox. Google’s pivotal task in this transition is guiding users toward embracing the new “Ad Topics” API feature, essentially the cookie substitute. Instead of personally tracking users, Ad Topics categorizes individuals based on their interests, delivering tailored ad experiences derived from these varied, intersecting categories. Crucially, this data remains on the user’s device, theoretically evading the clutches of unknown entities.

However, the rollout has faced some turbulence. Last year, when the “Enhanced ad privacy in Chrome” popup emerged, over 116 enterprise Chrome professionals voiced concerns. They highlighted that users declining to join Ad Topics would face the popup each time they opened Chrome, marking an initial hiccup in the transition process.

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