Finally, Chrome has made steps to discontinue third-party cookies. Although third-party cookies have been inactivated in Firefox and Safari for nearly four years, Google, one of the biggest ad networks in the world, has been gradually killing off tracking cookies. Third-party cookies are used by ad businesses to track users’ online activities and display relevant advertising to them based on that activity. It’s finally time to phase out the old ad tracking system with the release of Google’s alternative user-tracking ad system, the “Privacy Sandbox,” in Chrome. By the second half of 2024, third-party cookies will no longer be used.

Google refers to the deployment as “Tracking Protection” in their blog post, and they indicate that on January 4th, 1 percent of Chrome users will be able to test it. Everyone should be able to access desktop Chrome and Android by the second half of 2024 (Chrome on iOS is essentially a reskinned version of Safari, thus it is not relevant). The update includes a number of new Chrome features, according to Google, “If a site doesn’t work without third-party cookies and Chrome notices you’re having issues—like if you refresh a page multiple times—we’ll prompt you with an option to temporarily re-enable third-party cookies for that website from the eye icon on the right side of your address bar.”It’s hard to envision many web administrators not being prepared for this, given that other browsers have been doing this for the past four years.

Google said that the implementation is “subject to addressing any remaining competition concerns from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority.” With Chrome’s Privacy Sandbox setting, the most widely used web browser in the world (Google Chrome) integrates with the largest online advertising network (Google Ads) and disables alternative tracking techniques employed by rival ad providers. Thus, it makes sense that certain regulators be curious about the entire procedure.

Google claims that it is taking a “responsible approach” to phase out third-party cookies by providing this privacy feature four years after its rivals. Since disabling tracking cookies was previously viewed as an attack on Google’s business model, that responsibility appears to be primarily about accountability to Google’s stockholders. Due to its dominance in the browser market, Google was able to postpone the demise of monitoring cookies long enough to develop a substitute, which was introduced into Chrome earlier this year. It’s now acceptable to phase out cookies because the ad revenue has been secured. All is proceeding according to plan as of now.