Google To Test Feature Restricting Advertisers' Cookie Tracking In 2024

Google GOOGL GOOG will test a new feature on its Chrome browser in January 2024 that will limit advertisers’ ability to use tracking cookies.

What Happened: The tech giant revealed on Thursday that the “Tracking Protection” feature will be introduced to 1% of Chrome users worldwide on Jan. 4, Reuters reported. By default, this will limit cross-site tracking. Google also has plans to completely abolish the use of third-party cookies by the latter half of 2024.

Advertisers have voiced concerns that this change will impact their ability to gather data for ad personalization, making them dependent on Google’s user databases. In June, Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s antitrust chief, stated that investigations into Google’s tools for blocking third-party cookies, part of the “Privacy Sandbox” initiative, will continue.

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Thursday’s note from BofA Global Research suggested that media agencies, particularly those that can offer proprietary insights at a large scale to advertisers, will be empowered by this move to phase out cookies.

Why It Matters: In August 2022, Google’s decision to delay the phase-out of third-party cookies in its Chrome browser until 2024 was seen as positive news for Alphabet investors and the online advertising industry as a whole.

Cookies are small text snippets used by advertisers and publishers to identify users and target ads. Google had initially planned to end support for third-party cookies in Chrome by 2023, but in a blog post on July 27, declared it was postponing this to allow “more time to evaluate and test the new Privacy Sandbox technologies” that will serve as alternatives to third-party cookies in the future.

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Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash.