Originally, Google had planned to phase out cookies in
Chrome by early 2022, as part of an initiative it has dubbed Privacy Sandbox.
The delay is related to "our engagement with the United
Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)" -- the British
regulatory agency that announced a formal investigation of Google's Privacy
Sandbox project in January -- and "in line with the commitments we have
offered," Vinay Goel, privacy engineering director for Chrome, wrote in a
blog post.
Among the things Google has promised the U.K. regulators:
that it will "engage the CMA and the industry in an open, constructive and
continuous dialog" and that it will not give its own advertising products
or sites any preferential treatment.
"While there's considerable progress with this
initiative, it's become clear that more time is needed across the ecosystem to
get this right," Goel wrote.
Google also wants to "avoid jeopardizing the business
models of many web publishers which support freely available content," he
added. As such, "we need to move at a responsible pace."
Under the revised timeline, Google plans to start testing
the elimination of third-party cookies starting in late 2022. Then, Chrome
could phase out third-party cookies over a three-month period, starting in
mid-2023 and ending in late 2023.
"Today's move by Google, delaying the deprecation of
cookies, is clearly the right one," said John Gentry, president and CEO of
ad-tech company OpenX. "The advertising industry has been coming together
over the past 12 to 18 months to work on solutions, and while it's been great
to see the progress we have collectively made, taking the time to get this
right is the correct approach. This delay simply means more time for both
publishers and advertisers to get ready, and in the end, it's the consumer who
will benefit."
On the other hand, with Google's delay on phasing out
third-party cookies, "some marketers may continue their overreliance on
cookies for measurement," said Bryon Schafer, SVP of research at
music-video provider Vevo. "They have become addicted to what cookies can
afford" and often have "incorrect assumptions about what measures
matter most and what determines success."
Separately, Google earlier this year said it will no longer
sell ads using personally identifiable information from web browsers.
Google calls its privacy-enhanced solution for serving
targeted ads without using cookies Federated Learning of Cohorts, or FLoC. That
hides individuals within "large crowds of people with common
interests," according to the company. However, so far no other major web
browser providers -- including Mozilla, developer of Firefox -- have signed on
to support FLoC (pronounced "flock").
Google "received substantial feedback from the web
community during the origin trial for the first version of FLoC," Goel
noted. "We plan to conclude this origin trial in the coming weeks and
incorporate input, before advancing to further ecosystem testing."
The internet giant's Privacy Sandbox initiative aims to
create web technologies that "both protect people's privacy online and
give companies and developers the tools to build thriving digital businesses to
keep the web open and accessible to everyone, now, and for the future,"
according to Goel.
Google plans to post updates including a more detailed
schedule on privacysandbox.com.
"By ensuring that the ecosystem can support their
businesses without tracking individuals across the web, we can all ensure that
free access to content continues," Goel wrote. "And because of the
importance of this mission, we must take time to evaluate the new technologies,
gather feedback and iterate to ensure they meet our goals for both privacy and
performance, and give all developers time to follow the best path for
privacy."