- Date
- July 22, 2024
- Kind
- Technology shift
- Significance
- High
On July 22, 2024, Anthony Chavez, vice president of Google’s Privacy Sandbox, published an updated approach for Chrome. Rather than phasing out third-party cookies, Google said it would introduce a new experience in Chrome that lets people make an informed choice that applies across their browsing, and that they could change at any time.
What Google said would continue
- Google would keep offering and investing in the Privacy Sandbox APIs.
- It planned to add IP Protection to Chrome’s Incognito mode.
- It would discuss the new approach with regulators, naming the UK Competition and Markets Authority and the UK Information Commissioner’s Office, and engage the industry as it rolled out.
What came after
Press reports from April 2025 say Chrome would not launch a standalone prompt asking people to accept or reject third-party tracking, which further walked back the 2024 plan.
Why it matters
Many measurement, identity and audience products had been rebuilt in preparation for a cookieless Chrome. The decision removed the deadline that justified much of that work, while consent rules and other browsers' restrictions still apply.
What happened next
As of the sources reviewed, third-party cookies remain available in Chrome. Advertisers should not assume that means tracking without consent is lawful in regions with consent rules.