What you need to know
- Google's Privacy Sandbox is planning on ushering in a third-party cookie-less world.
- This plan will begin in Q1 2024 with one percent of Chrome users losing third-party cookies for the sake of a more secure web for everyone.
- By Q4 2023, developers testing will have opened on a much grander scale.
- Google states this is all being done in accordance to the UK's CMA.
Google's Privacy Sandbox is preparing to do away with an aspect of the web-based version of Chrome for the sake of stronger user security. In a new blog post, Google states that it will depreciate third-party cookies in Chrome during the second half of 2024.
Preparations are needed before Chrome moves us into a world without third-party cookies. Beginning in Q1 2024, Google states it will start by killing third-party cookies for only one percent of Chrome users.
However, before this begins, Q4 2023 is when developers can begin their own testing phase. This will be done so developers can see and test whether or not their products can function without the existence of third-party cookies. They will have the tools required to simulate the non-existence of third-party cookies for their users as we approach the beginning of the depreciation. The percentage of users will be left up to the developer's own discretion, as well.
Google assures that all that it's doing is in compliance with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as it has been in consultation with them. The Mountain View-based company will also wait for the CMA to conduct an investigation further into its third-party depreciation before taking its work beyond the initial one percent of Chrome users.
Moving forward, the company will keep its work in accordance with its given Commitments and its public timeline for web users.
Over the course of the next few weeks and with the scheduled July Chrome release, Google plans to bring the Privacy Sandbox relevance and measurement APIs to every Chrome user. This is more developer-oriented as they will be able to use the APIs to conduct scaled, live traffic testing in preparation for a world without third-party cookies.
Going through 2023 and into the beginning of third-party cookies' depreciation, Google states it will continue to work with industry leaders to "transition to a more private web." The company is also encouraging developers to adopt and begin testing the Privacy Sandbox's APIs with the intention of using it as an end-to-end solution.
Google details its planned rollout in a new Chrome developer blog post, as well, and will provide more details about the overall plan in the coming months. Soon, we should hear more about the company's guidance on testing metrics and more.
