For a while, there was a moment when it looked like Google would do what seemed right and discontinue support for ad-tracking third-party cookies in the Chrome browser. However, after much deliberation with regulators, publishers, and members of the advertising industry, the decision was dropped in favor of giving end users the means to “make informed choices that apply to their entire web browsing experience.”

Cookies are small files that are stored on your computer when you visit a website hosted by a server. They are a useful piece of data and a potential trove of information for the advertising industry, as they can store authentication and login details. So-called third-party cookies are typically used to track the browsing habits of web users so that web pages can be configured to display targeted advertising.

In 2019, Google announced its long-term goal of making the web more private through its Privacy Sandbox project. A few months later, it made the surprising statement that it would phase out support for third-party cookies in Chrome; now, four years later, Google (through Register) no longer intends to do this, and will be installing Chrome with a third-party cookie officially stated that it would offer users the option to change whether or not they want to support them.

Anthony Chavez, Vice President of Google Privacy Sandbox, said in a statement: “Instead of eliminating third-party cookies, we're introducing a new experience to Chrome that allows users to make informed choices that apply to their entire web browsing experience based choices.

Why did Google suddenly change its mind after being so adamant about doing this and trying to do it for years? Well, investigations by the likes of the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have almost certainly played a part.

The problem was that Google wanted to remove third-party cookies altogether and adopt its closed Privacy Sandbox API, and supporters of the “open web” (along with those opposed to the online advertising industry) were not at all happy about this The CMA was particularly concerned that forcing millions of users to participate in a system that had been developed without regulatory scrutiny would likely amount to an abuse of a dominant position (warning via pdf).

Hence Google dropped its support for third-party cookies, instead giving users the option to allow/block cookies through simple controls in their browsers, just as Apple and Mozilla do with Safari and Firefox The company withdrew its commitment to do so.

However, these browsers block ad tracking cookies by default, and only a few are happy with Google's decision. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) believes that the reversal over third-party cookies is “simply the result of an ad-driven business model” and that “third-party cookies are an even more invasive form of online tracking than privacy sandboxes,” The Register writes.

For now, Google is still going full steam ahead with Privacy Sandbox, and while support for third-party cookies will remain for the foreseeable future, it is not clear when the option to disable it in Chrome will be released. the CMA and others are not clear when this decision appears to have been appeased by the decision, but with a significant amount of skepticism being aired on the web, it is unlikely that this story is over for good.