Google postpones cookie phase-out after regulatory backlash

Google has now said it plans to start phasing out cookies in 2025, subject to approval from UK regulators. – Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Google will miss its year-end goal to change the way it serves ads in its major web browser, Chrome, setting back years of efforts to improve consumer privacy on the internet.

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Google announced Tuesday that it will no longer be able to remove third-party cookies under its original schedule, citing ongoing challenges related to reconciling disparate feedback from industry, regulators, and developers. This change was highly anticipated by advertisers, as nearly two-thirds of internet traffic passes through Chrome, making it a key gateway for reaching consumers.

Third-party cookies are software that tracks users on the Internet. Advertisers use them for everything from targeted advertising to measuring the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, and they are the basis for much of the $600 billion-a-year industry.

Google's announcement comes just days before an expected status report from the UK Competition and Markets Authority, which is overseeing the company's global efforts to eliminate cookies.

Britain's privacy regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office, told Google that the proposed changes do not go far enough and will provide similar feedback to the CMA, The Wall Street Journal reported this month.

Google has now said it plans to begin phasing out cookies in 2025, subject to approval from the CMA and ICO.

A CMA spokesperson said it welcomed Google's announcement. This will allow time to evaluate the results of industry tests and resolve any remaining issues, he said in a statement. The ICO did not respond to requests for comment outside of business hours.

Google has spent years preparing to remove cookies, following similar moves by Apple and Mozilla, the developer of the Firefox browser. We promoted this change as a way to improve consumer privacy and developed a set of alternative technologies known as Privacy Sandbox that replaced many of the features.

The plan faces several obstacles from industry players. Google first announced plans to block cookies in early 2020, with the goal of eliminating them by the end of 2022.

Paul Bannister, chief strategy officer at media company Raptiv, said the delay would benefit the advertising industry by giving it more time to prepare for Google's changes.

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Bannister said that people's privacy is important, and so is revenue for publishers who create great content for those people.

The CMA will launch an investigation into Google's efforts in 2021 and has the power to order changes to Google's cookie elimination plan before it can proceed.

Google began restricting cookies to 1% of Chrome users in January as part of what it called a limited test, and then moved forward with plans to remove cookies by the end of the year.

Ad tech companies complained to Google and the CMA that their alternative technologies were not sufficient to compensate for the functionality lost by cookies. They have also expressed concerns that Google's plans will strengthen the company's dominant position in the digital advertising ecosystem.

Alphabet Google said some of the criticism was inaccurate and said some features were intentionally reduced to improve privacy. The company said it would not give preferential treatment to its products during the transition period.

In a draft report this month, the ICO wrote that Google's privacy sandbox tools left gaps that advertisers could use to identify users who should remain anonymous, according to a copy reviewed by the magazine. was. Google said last week that these tools are designed to deliver meaningful privacy improvements and that the company will work closely with the ICO.

A CMA spokesperson said the regulator was working with the ICO to complete the review by the end of this year.

Email Miles Kruppa ([email protected]) and Patience Haggin ([email protected]).

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