We had already talked about Privacy Sandbox , Google plan to phase out third-party cookies and replace them with a set of new standards. Now the project has just cleared a key regulatory hurdle , thanks to approval by the UK competition regulator , the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The same entity announced that Google is committed to developing new standards so that they do not harm the competition or unfairly benefit its advertising activity, and that it will monitor the situation.
Google's plans are still evolving and it is not yet clear exactly which Privacy Sandbox technologies it will use to replace third-party cookies . Just last month, Google ditched a planned approach, FLoC , which nobody liked as it could create privacy risks (and competing browsers, including Edge and Firefox, had refused. to use it) in favor of a new system called Topics API . The latter attempts to identify five of the users' interests and stores them in the browser.
Now that they have been formally accepted, Google's commitments become legally binding and the search giant has said it will enforce them globally . Commitments include transparent development of Privacy Sandbox proposals and publication of test results . Google has also stated that will not remove third party cookies until the CMA is satisfied that the new alternatives do not raise competition concerns.
Google Chrome will not be the first browser to gradually eliminate third-party cookies (others like Safari and Firefox block them by default already ), but Chrome's dominant market share means it is likely to have the biggest impact on the digital advertising market . The current plan is to block third-party cookies by default by the end of 2023.
