24 Jul 2024
Google launched the Privacy Sandbox project in 2019 to replace the third-party trackers in its Chrome browser and allow advertisers to target users with appropriate ads.
Third-party cookies record and share user information across websites visited. While Safari and Firefox banned these cookies years ago, Google tried to find a way to give advertisers access to user information and its users the option to choose their level of privacy. Google gets 80% of its revenue from advertising.
It launched Privacy Sandbox in 2019 to be released within two years. It would shift the control of online user tracking from third-party trackers to Google Chrome. This would mean that ad-tech players and companies would not be able to track their ad performances.
This opened the floodgates to several lawsuits and complaints filed with regulators and competition authorities against Google across the UK and the US. After repeated delays, Google announced on July 22nd that Chrome will continue to support third-party cookies while allowing users to block them, subject to approval from the UK-based Competition and Markets Authority.