Will there be no more cookies? Chrome without third-party cookies

All Chrome users will no longer be able to use third-party cookies from Google starting 2024, although publishers and marketers will still need permission to handle user data. Find out what will happen to third-party cookies in Chrome, how to get ready for them to expire, and why consent is still very important.

For more than 20 years, third-party cookies have been an essential element in the digital advertising space. Their main purpose is to monitor user behavior online in order to provide personalized information and targeted advertising.

However, that might be about to alter. Beginning with 1% of users, Google stopped using third-party cookies in the Google Chrome browser on January 4, 2024, as part of a growing number of online browsers that have abandoned the infamous tracking technology. Google also started testing new privacy features. With a substantial majority of the worldwide web browser market at now, Chrome intends to eliminate third-party monitoring cookies by the end of 2024 for all users. However, third-party cookies do not indicate that tracking will stop, and genuine end-user consent will still be required in order to handle personal data long after third-party cookies and their replacement technologies become obsolete.

Third-party cookies: what are they?

When a person visits a website, little text files called cookies are downloaded to their browser.

Two categories of cookies exist:

First-party cookies are generated by the user's current website. They make it possible for the website to identify the user's device and save data that can enhance their browsing experience, such as remembering the user's login credentials or allowing them to save things in a shopping cart.

Third-party cookies are downloaded to a user's browser by websites other than the one they are currently on. They can follow visitors across several websites, which lets you collect information on the interests, preferences, and browsing behaviors of individuals. After that, this data is utilized to provide individualized advertising experiences. One of the various monitoring technologies you may use on websites to conduct online advertising, social media integrations, analytics programs, and marketing platforms is third-party cookies.

What does it signify when Google removes third-party cookies from Chrome?

Google declared in January 2020 that Chrome will gradually stop accepting third-party cookies by the end of the year, with testing focused on conversion tracking and customization first. As part of a broader initiative called Privacy Sandbox, which was introduced in August 2019, Google decided to stop supporting third-party cookies on Chrome. The goal of these efforts is "to develop a set of open standards to fundamentally enhance privacy on the web."

Google's Privacy Sandbox projects center on:

·? How to provide advertisements to consumers without gathering personal information from their browsers.

·??How to allow advertisers to track conversions without identifying specific users online.

·??How to combat spam and identify and stop ad fraud, such as bots clicking on advertisements in place of actual users.

·??How to prevent cross-site monitoring and improve user privacy online.

·??How to protect users against nefarious data tracking schemes.

Following significant opposition from the industry and discussion about potential alternatives, Google stated on June 24, 2021, that the third-party cookie phase out would be postponed for two years, until the end of 2024.

Moving away from third-party cookies is not unique to Google. Third-party cookies have long been blocked by Mozilla's Firefox, Brave Software's Brave, and Apple's Safari browsers. Major publications and media outlets, such as the New York Times, are also in the process of completely moving away from third-party advertising data.

However, the ad tech sector, particularly marketers and advertising agencies, has opposed Google's plan to remove third-party cookies from Chrome. They fear that prohibiting third-party cookies altogether will negatively impact the online economy, especially startups. They have pleaded with Google to continue using third-party cookies until proven substitutes are available. By Q3 2024, Google plans to stop allowing third-party cookies for all Chrome users. As a result, website owners need to plan for how their sites will function once these cookies become outdated.