Google has started saying goodbye to cookies on Chrome
Google has disabled cookies for 30 million Chrome users. It's the first step in the search giant's plan to completely remove online tracking tools from the web browser. But advertisers aren't ready yet.
Goodbye to cookies for Google.
When we are surfing the web and advertising appears on some sites related to a purchase already made or another site already visited, this is all thanks to cookies. These, small files stored on your device, can be used to record various types of data about users, including: what you do on the site, where in the world you are, what device you are using and where you go online next.
Now, years after first introducing its Privacy Sandbox project, Google is rolling out a new tool that by default limits third-party cookies to 1% of Chrome users globally.
Chrome has more than half of the global browser market share, and according to Gizmodo , that means Google has killed cookies for 30 million users.
Google describes the changes as a test, with plans for a full rollout to eliminate cookies by the end of the year.
The changes, among the largest in the history of the $600 billion-a-year online advertising industry, center on the use of cookies, a technology that records Internet users' activity on websites so that advertisers can target them with relevant ads, notes the Wall Street Journal.
Advertisers, publishers, and other players in the digital media ecosystem were initially notified that Google was planning to eliminate cookies from Chrome in January 2020 . But advertisers aren't ready yet.
THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF COOKIES FOR GOOGLE ON CHROME
The Mountain View giant is making radical changes to the way companies track users online, moves that have been in the works for years.
A new feature of the Chrome browser disables third-party cookies: from January 4 it is available to 1% of global users, around 30 million people. Google says randomly chosen users will be asked if they want to "browsing with more privacy."
THE STRATEGY OF THE MOUNTAIN VIEW GIANT
“We're taking a responsible approach to phasing out third-party cookies in Chrome,” explained Anthony Chavez, Google's vice president, in a blog post .
“If a site doesn't work without third-party cookies and Chrome detects that you're having problems… we'll give you an option to temporarily re-enable third-party cookies for that website,” he continued. The tech giant says it is working to make the Internet more private.
THE SANDBOX PRIVACY INITIATIVE
Google designed the Privacy Sandbox initiative, just as the name suggests, to be an alternative to cookies that will allow advertisers to serve ads to users while protecting their privacy. It assigns users to groups based on their interests, based on their recent browsing activities, and advertisers can use that information to match them with relevant ads. The system should be less invasive than cookies: all data and processing happens on the device itself, and Google says it will store users' interests for three weeks, explains Engadget .
However, the publication recalls that this project has attracted the attention of regulators over concerns that it will make the company even more powerful than it already is. Google's Chrome is the most popular Internet browser in the world, with around 60% of Internet users using it, Gizmodo highlights again. So if Google gets rid of this technology it will essentially kill cookies forever.
Rivals like Apple's Safari and Mozilla Firefox – which generate much less Internet traffic – already include options to block third-party cookies.
WHAT ABOUT THE ADVERTISERS?
The announcement has shaken the advertising ecosystem, with industry players concerned that new so-called Privacy Sandbox technologies will not prove adequate replacements and that the move could further consolidate Google's dominance in the online advertising market. Google has already had to postpone the original deadline for deleting cookies twice, Business Insider recalls.
In fact, some advertisers continue to argue that they will suffer. From the perspective of many websites, cookies are a vital part of selling the advertising they depend on.
“Google's solution, Chrome Privacy Sandbox, which only works on a Chrome browser, probably doesn't benefit anyone other than Google,” said Phil Duffield, UK vice president at The Trade Desk, which runs a platform to let companies buy online advertisements, filmed by the BBC . “Protecting consumer privacy online doesn't have to mean making it harder for publishers to earn revenue,” Duffield remarked.
“2024 started with a rude awakening for marketers. Starting January 4, Google will proceed to disable third-party cookies. This shouldn't be news to the industry; however, almost half of marketing managers know little or nothing about the cookieless and ID-less solutions currently available" Francesca Lerario, Managing Director Southern Europe of Ogury, an Anglo-French adtech with an advertising model based on the explicit consent of users, commented to Startmag. users to data collection.
“Advertisers, however, can no longer afford to postpone this problem and time is running out with the new year upon us – concluded Lerario –
It is therefore necessary not to fear the future, but to seize the opportunity to explore scalable solutions that allow you to accurately target audiences without relying on identifiers. Only in this way, with the new year, will marketing managers be ready."
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/google-ha-iniziato-a-dire-addio-ai-cookie-su-chrome/ on Fri, 05 Jan 2024 11:26:44 +0000.