Google Will Not Replace Third-Party Cookies with Alternative Tracking Methods

Previous discussions have centered on the development of alternatives to cookies for cross-site user tracking. However, Google has declared its intention to diverge from this path.

The company had previously announced the planned deprecation of third-party cookie support within its Chrome browser. Today, this commitment was reinforced by David Temkin, Google’s Director of Product Management for Ads Privacy and Trust, in a published blog post. He stated that following the phasing out of third-party cookies, Google will refrain from creating alternative identifiers to monitor individual user behavior across the web, and will not integrate such identifiers into its products.

Temkin acknowledged the possibility that other entities might offer user identity solutions for ad tracking, potentially utilizing data like [personally identifiable information] graphs derived from email addresses. He expressed skepticism regarding the long-term viability of these approaches.

He argued that these solutions are unlikely to align with evolving consumer privacy expectations or withstand increasingly stringent regulatory frameworks, making them an unsustainable long-term investment.

Targeted Advertising Will Continue

This decision does not signify an end to targeted advertising. Instead, Temkin posits that advancements in areas like aggregation, anonymization, on-device processing, and other privacy-enhancing technologies render the tracking of individual consumers across the web unnecessary for achieving effective digital advertising results.

As an illustration, Temkin highlighted Google’s ongoing testing of Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC), a new methodology. FLoC enables ad targeting based on shared interests among large user groups.

Google intends to initiate FLoC testing with advertisers during the second quarter of the current year.

First-Party Data Remains Supported

Temkin clarified that these changes specifically address third-party data and will not impact publishers’ ability to track and target visitors to their own websites. Google will continue to support first-party relationships on its advertising platforms, allowing partners to maintain direct connections with their customer base.

Concerns Regarding FLoC

It is important to note that the Electronic Frontier Foundation has criticized FLoC, characterizing it as a technology that is counter to privacy preservation. They have likened it to a “behavioral credit score.”

Despite the broader industry trend of phasing out cookies, the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority is currently investigating Google’s cookie plan due to antitrust concerns. Critics suggest Google may be leveraging privacy concerns to bolster its market dominance. Similar criticisms have been directed at Apple concerning forthcoming privacy changes within iOS.

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