PARIS: Google is taking the first step towards abandoning third-party cookies by starting to limit them for some users of its Chrome web browser. The company announced its plan to eliminate cookies entirely back in 2020, but this move has been delayed multiple times. Google said that fully getting rid of third-party cookies would require the approval of Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority, which is examining the impact on other businesses. The company added that it is restricting third-party cookies by default for one percent of Chrome users to facilitate testing, and will then increase the restriction to 100% of users from the third quarter of 2024, according to a blog post that cited a Thursday start date.
Cookies are small files that track web navigation to target advertising. They have come under increased regulation, including under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation put into place in 2016, as well as regulations in California. Third-party cookies are those placed by visited sites and not by the browser itself.
Google has been working on an alternative system for Chrome that would target audience segments grouping hundreds or thousands of people, instead of tracking individual users. This system, called Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC), is meant to replace third-party cookies. – AFP
