Google has halted a change that would have made it harder to track users across websites to serve them targeted ads. After years of testing, planning and delays, Google has scrapped a plan to turn off third-party tracking cookies by default, as Safari and Firefox already do. The change was supposed to reach Chrome users soon, despite concerns raised by competitors, regulators and privacy advocates.
Now, Chrome will prompt users to “make an informed choice that applies to their web browsing.” Instead of opting out of third-party cookies, Anthony Chavez, Google’s Vice President of Privacy, writes:This could work more like Apple’s app tracking option, a setting that cost social media platforms nearly $10 billion when it was introduced in 2021. Putting a prompt in front of billions of Chrome users wouldn’t be as radical as changing the default setting entirely, but it could significantly reduce the number of users who allow third-party tracking.
on monday, Google Ads Team It also issued a white paper (PDFEarly test results using Privacy Sandbox, which is positioned as an alternative or replacement for tracking cookies, show a 97 percent return on investment with Google Display Ads, which is Advertising Age called strongBut effectiveness dropped in attempts to engage the same customers through follow-up ads, which only showed a 55% recovery rate in spend on remarketing audiences.
Criticism of Google’s plan to remove third-party cookies and launch other ad targeting technologies in the Privacy Sandbox, such as FLoC or the Topics API, has pointed to Potential for new privacy risks or the potential to harm competition and unfairly benefit from the search giant’s advertising business.
In response to the news, The UK Competition and Markets Authority writes: “Chrome will offer a user option, which will allow users to choose whether they want to keep third-party cookies.” There are no details on exactly how this will work, with Google saying it is “proposing” a new approach, and the CMA plans to accept feedback on the change for a few weeks.
The Open Web Movement, the advertising industry group that filed a complaint with the Competition and Markets Authority to block the rollout of Privacy Sandbox, issued a statement saying the change “is a clear admission by Google that its plan to enclose the open web has failed.”
James Roswell, co-founder of the open web movement:
We have long advocated that Privacy Sandbox be allowed to compete on its own merits. If advertisers like its approach, and consumers appreciate the purported privacy benefits, it will be adopted globally. What is unacceptable is forcing such a solution onto the market while eliminating alternative options.
Google says it will continue to make Privacy Sandbox APIs available Add protection against IP tracking For people who use incognito mode to add an extra layer of privacy.
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