Chrome’s deprecation of third-party cookies delayed again

Google originally planned to get rid of third-party cookies in Chrome by 2022. Following two delays, Google yesterday announced a third to 2025.

We remain committed to engaging closely with the CMA and ICO and we hope to conclude that process this year. Assuming we can reach an agreement, we envision proceeding with third-party cookie deprecation starting early next year.

The Privacy Sandbox is Google’s plan to replace third-party cookies, cross-site tracking identifiers, fingerprinting, and other similar methods with more privacy-conscious alternatives. 

Since the 2020 announcement, Google has been working on those new technologies, like Topics, Protected Audience, Attribution Reporting, Private Aggregation, Shared Storage, and Fenced Frames.

The first delay was to 2023 and then 2024. In January, Google started a wider phase of testing, with “Tracking Protection” being the user-facing branding for the change. A “Browse with more privacy” banner explained how “You’re one of the first to experience Tracking Protection, which limits sites from using third-party cookies to track you as you browse.”

Google will now “not complete third-party cookie deprecation during the second half of Q4.” There are remaining concerns by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which Google previously agreed to get approval from before deprecating third-party cookies. 

We recognize that there are ongoing challenges related to reconciling divergent feedback from the industry, regulators and developers, and will continue to engage closely with the entire ecosystem. It’s also critical that the CMA has sufficient time to review all evidence including results from industry tests, which the CMA has asked market participants to provide by the end of June. Given both of these significant considerations, we will not complete third-party cookie deprecation during the second half of Q4.