Google has begun implementing technical changes that promise to be among the biggest in the $600 billion annual online advertising industry: It has begun blocking third-party cookies for a small number of Chrome browser users; This is a technology that allows users to track their actions on various platforms. Sites to serve relevant ads to consumers.

As of yesterday, 1% of Chrome users, the world’s most popular browser, have third-party cookies blocked. By the end of the year, Google plans to block third-party cookies for all Chrome users. This is a serious test for marketers and ad tech site owners; Both sides argue that Google’s rollout of new software tools has not adequately prepared the market for innovation. The situation is made worse by the fact that the transition is planned for the fourth quarter, when the biggest activity of the year occurs in the advertising industry.

Google has a different opinion on this issue: the company announced that it is ready to provide comprehensive support to the industry and that the tools available to it will help the business achieve its goals, but will now respect users’ privacy. Some representatives of the advertising industry want Google to accelerate the transition to the new model, which has already been postponed several times.

Cookies have been around since the early days of the Internet; It allows you to store user settings on the user’s computer for every page you open, without the need for authorization. Third-party cookies, which Google has decided to fight, allow access to a user’s profile from one site to another; this allows tracking a person’s actions on various resources, creating a profile of their preferences and serving ads based on their interests – consumer rights advocates state that this technology violates human privacy and facilitates the collection of personal data. Google’s innovations will not affect the operation of local cookies for storing basic information such as authorization data.

Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari browsers began to impose restrictions on tracking users through cookies at the end of the last decade. Google planned to implement a similar measure for Chrome as early as 2020, but has repeatedly delayed the process due to complaints from advertising industry representatives and privacy advocates; The second had to do with the technology the company recommends over third-party cookies. The technology allows users to be tracked directly through their browsers, and there are fears it will strengthen Google’s dominance by centralizing critical functions. According to Statcounter, as of December 2023, Chrome accounted for almost 65% of worldwide web traffic, while second-place Safari accounted for three times less. The antitrust review of the initiative is being carried out by the British Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which Google has promised will not give any advantage to its own products. The company also stated that its agreement with CMA will be valid worldwide.

To replace third-party cookies, Google introduced the Private Sandbox API, a tool that will cover not only the desktop versions of Chrome but also the Android mobile operating system. Major advertising agencies have complained to the CMA and Google that the tool has significant technical gaps for things like video, complicating the testing needed to prepare for the complete disabling of third-party cookies. Google says the first phase of the plan rolling out is a limited test of the new funds; The CMA reserved the right to block the initiative if it concluded that it would harm other companies. Google reminded that the purpose of the innovation is to increase user privacy and acknowledged that some representatives of the advertising industry will have to redesign existing products or create new ones. “This is not a static picture at one point in time. There are thousands of companies in the ecosystem, and they will continue to adapt and optimize over time,” said Google VP Anthony Chavez.

It is believed that the implementation of Private Sandbox will lead to a decrease in advertising prices because advertising prices for Firefox and Safari users actually decreased after third-party cookies were blocked. In November 2022, ad technology provider Criteo found that third-party cookies were five times more effective at targeting than the Topics tool in the Private Sandbox. Google assured that the Topics tool would be redesigned following the publication of the Criteo study. On the contrary, advertising agency Havas Medya found that in practice, alternatives to third-party cookies provide similar or even better results. Once Google begins to fully implement its plans, it will be possible to draw some industry-wide conclusions.