What Google decision to keep cookies means for the internet
Google announced in a surprise move that it would reverse its years-long plan to phase out third-party cookies.
Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Google on Monday announced a bold move that has some big implications for advertisers and the future of the internet.
The U.S. internet giant said late Monday it is reversing a long-planned move to ditch third-party cookies — the critical text files that track users’ web activity for advertisers.
But what are cookies, exactly? And what does Google’s decision mean for how you interact with the web moving forward — or, for that matter the advertising industry?
CNBC runs through what you need to know.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small pieces of code that websites deliver to a visitor’s browser. They remain as the person visits other sites.
These bits of code silently track our online activities, collecting information on what we’re searching for and the kinds of products we tend to buy, for example. They have become a key way for advertisers to fine tune how they target people with ads online.
The practice of using third-party cookies to track web activity has helped fuel much of the digital advertising ecosystem and advertisers remain heavily reliant on cookies as a tool to gather data on their customers.
Roughly 40.9% of websites globally use cookies to gather data on users, according to data from W3Techs, a web technology research firm.
“Third-party cookies are the backbone of online behavioral advertising. They are the way that products or brands follow you around online,” Matthew Holman, partner at law firm Cripps, told CNBC.
“If you’ve ever wondered how you can search for a new pair of shoes online only to find the same shoes advertised five minutes later on your favourite social media platform, the answer is: third party cookies.”
But cookies aren’t only a method of tracking users’ browsing habits. They also form a key part of how the modern web functions. They play a critical role in keeping a user signed in as they browse from one webpage to another.
One argument for keeping cookies live across the web is convenience. Put simply, they can make it more convenient for users navigating around the internet as the ads displayed on devices for shopping are more tailored to a user’s interests.
They also help the web remain free to use — many publishers introduced paywalls and invested in sponsored content in response to the anticipated phase-out of cookies.
In some ways, cookies have also become annoying for many users.
Privacy regulation in Europe requires websites to display boxes requesting users what cookies they want stored on their devices. This results in the checkboxes we’re now all too familiar with asking us to consent to cookies.
What alternatives did Google propose?
Initially, Google sought to introduce an alternative to cookies that was more privacy-focused.
The company launched its “Privacy Sandbox” initiative in 2019 to find a solution that protects user privacy while still allowing content…
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