The transition to a future without third-party cookies is getting closer. Although Google has postponed the actual introduction of this several times, there now seems to be some forward movement. For example, a subgroup of 1% of Google Chrome users will have third-party cookies disabled, starting in the first quarter of 2024. These users will be migrated to Privacy Sandbox, an initiative by Google with the aim of protecting the privacy of protect users on the Internet.
What are cookies and why does Google want to get rid of them?
Cookies are pieces of code which are stored on your computer or smartphone by the website you visit. Cookies can be divided into first-party cookies and third-party cookies. First-party cookies are cookies that relate to the actual website you visit, such as your preferences, contents of a shopping cart, and login details. Third-party cookies, on the other hand, are cookies that are placed by external domains and that have no direct relationship with the website you are visiting. These cookies are used to map you and your user behavior for advertising purposes. It is mainly the third-party cookies that Google has its sights on and ultimately wants to replace.
Replacing third-party cookies will be done through new technologies such as ‘Topics‘, and previously the Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) system. With Topics, users’ behavior is partially aggregated and anonymized, after which an image is created of their interests based on the websites they visit. After this, the content and context of the websites that users visit are analyzed, after which the interests are categorized as so-called ‘topics’. Based on these topics, ads can be shown to users which should be relevant to them based on their interests, but which do not require individual user identification to determine them.
A more privacy-oriented approach is obviously positive for users. However, only time will tell whether this will ultimately be done through Topics or some other approach.
