Data protection: Google is moving the blocking of third-party cookies

Google wants to offer users more protection of their personal data, which is turning advertisers against the search engine operator. Now Google wants to give them more time to look for alternatives.

Google will give the advertising industry and web publishers significantly more time to replace the currently practiced personalization of advertising with more privacy-friendly procedures. Vinay Goel, Google Privacy Engineering Director, announced this in a blog entry on Thursday.

This involves delisting so-called cookies from third-party providers such as data dealers or advertising companies, with which the activities of users on various websites can be tracked.

The updated schedule for the so-called privacy sandbox now provides for two stages. Google wants to complete a public discussion and development phase for a cookie alternative by the end of 2022. The aim is to develop web technologies that both protect privacy and give companies and developers the tools to build thriving digital companies and keep the web open and accessible to everyone. In the first stage, publishers and the advertising industry would also have the time to convert their services.

Stage two of the schedule will then start in mid-2023. The Chrome browser will then expire support for third-party cookies over a period of several months by the end of 2023.

With this product design, Google is following the competition: at Apple and in the Firefox web browser, cookies from third-party providers have been blocked by default for some time.

By postponing the cookie block, Google is responding to criticism from some competitors in the field of digital advertising. They argued that, among other things, as the developer of the Chrome browser and the Android smartphone system, Google also had other ways of getting information about the behavior of users. The new schedule now also takes into account commitments that Google has made to the UK Competition and Market Authority (CMA).

Cookies are small data sets that websites store in order to make users identifiable. With their help, individual profiles can be created that allow far-reaching conclusions about surfing behavior, preferences and lifestyle. This knowledge is then used, for example, for personalized advertising.

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