Google Chrome embraces third-party cookies: What this means for you

In 2020, Google made big claims with respect to third-party ad-tracking cookies. The tech giant had announced that it would make Chrome free of them, putting a lot of talk around the browser’s privacy concerns to rest. Four years later, after pushing the date several times, Google revealed that it now feels differently about third-party cookies. 

As per an Android Authority report, Google Chrome will continue using third-party cookies in smartphones and other devices. The move will ensure advertisers are able to “profile” Chrome users and use the cookies to track their interests in products and services. All this is then fed to other apps, which then show you targeted advertising. 

What are third-party cookies and what does this mean for you? 

Cookies are tracking services that follow you around on a browser even after you’ve left a website. Third-party cookies (the ones you allow to track you on third-party sites) work by creating a profile on you, logging all your interests and activities. 

 ALSO READ:  Google reveals Chrome doesn’t always protect your activity in incognito mode

These help advertisers to show you only the products and services are interested in when you open apps like say, Instagram, which is notorious for advertisements. This appears great on the surface. Why would you want to see ads about mattresses when all you care about is buying your next anime collectible? However, what happens to the data collected by cookies has been a topic of concern for the privacy conscious for a long time. 

The dual-edge nature of cookies and tracking is big enough for even Apple to use Safari’s privacy-conscious approach as a selling point for iPhones, as seen in the brand’s new advert. 

What kind of data is collected? How much? When and how can you stop it? These are some questions neither Chrome nor any of the other sites offering you cookies have the answer to. Meanwhile, going back on its word isn’t exactly surprising coming from Google. Just look at our list of all the Google apps and services the tech giant has once proudly launched, only to put them to rest later on. 

Moving forward, Google VP Anthony Chavez explained in a blog post that Chrome will instead implement a new way to deal with third-party cookies, one that offers more granular control and easier opt-out mechanisms. However, there have been no concrete details on how this will work just yet.