The End of Third-Party Cookies: How Google’s Changes Are Shaping Online Privacy

It isn’t often possible to pinpoint any one event that will have a substantial impact on the internet as a whole. But the ongoing Google cookie saga is an exception to the rule, hopefully signalling a u-turn in consumer privacy – which is to say, that we can enjoy more of it. If you’re not familiar with all the drama and how Google is on track to irk many marketers and advertisers, we’re summarising all the key points below.

In the beginning…

Way back in 2018 Engineering Director on Chrome Security & Privacy at Google Just Schuh announced the end of third-party cookies as part of an initiative aimed at addressing increased privacy concerns.

The Privacy Sandbox was announced, which, in a nutshell, seeks to establish a set of open standards that enhances privacy on the web without entirely killing off targeted advertising. Or, in Google’s own words:

• “Provide alternative solutions for browsing without third-party cookies.”
• “Reduce cross-site and cross-app tracking while helping to keep online content and services free for all.”

But if third-party cookies are phased out, how will advertisers and marketers get their hands on user data?

FLoC

One of the first solutions to this conundrum was FLoC or Federated Learning of Cohorts. This might be a mouthful, but it boils down to a really simple concept: users are grouped based on browsing behaviour.

One such group is called a cohort and is assigned a FLoC ID. The idea is that cohorts are targeted rather than individual users. But that wasn’t to last as the idea elicited concerns from various industry players saying that this could still expose users to targeting; individuals who are not financially savvy, for example, can be easily targeted by predatory lenders. Others maintained that individual users could still be identified by piecing together FLoC information.

Google Topics

Google eventually shelved FLoC in favour of Google Topics. Where FLoC lumped users together in groups based on browsing preferences, Topics created, well, topics based on a consumer’s browsing history. Specifically, every website that uses the Topics API is assigned to a category.

When consumers use such sites, the category is recorded. Your browser then calculates which topics you are most interested in based on the recorded data and adds a sixth wildcard topic. In this way, marketers and advertisers can still target consumers.

But this too drew a fair bit of criticism, with marketers and advertisers being the most vocal saying that Topics will be useless for smaller advertisers while not allowing for much-personalised targeting at the same time.

Others maintain that users could be bombarded with a lot of irrelevant and unwanted ads, that Google Chrome will have direct access to first-party data, and that there is no third-party oversight over how users are classified into Topics. There are also concerns that individual consumers can be fingerprinted over time, thus negating the entire privacy exercise.

Changes In Chrome

Over the last few years, Google has been in a difficult position. On the one side are users demanding more privacy (and, hence, the removal of 3rd party cookies). The other side plays host to ranks of marketers and advertisers who, with more precise user data, can craft highly specific messaging and ads. Google needs both to survive.

Google, it seems, removed itself from the tug-of-war by putting the power to decide in the hands of its users by giving them the means to enable or disable cookies in a click or two. This is likely to be part of the broader Privacy Sandbox API which will give browsers more scope and tools to act on behalf of the user and so protect any identifying data as the user surfs the web. All this happens locally on the user’s device.

Given that most users will opt out of tracking, marketers, and advertisers will have to find other means to get the data they need for targeted messaging.

Does this necessarily spell good news for users?

There’s money to be made from user data, which simply begs the question: if it’s not mined from search engines, then where will it come from? Google abandoning 3rd party cookies does not, for better or worse, spell the end of user tracking or targeted ads.

Although thorough speculation at the moment, conversational AI is likely to become a top source of user data. While AI service providers could position themselves as merchants of user data, presently it seems far more likely that users will willingly provide brands with the necessary information as they interact with AI-enabled brand apps and chatbots (known as zero-party data). Of course, the onus is on brands to be completely transparent and so nurture user trust, or risk facing permanent distrust.

Conclusion

Phasing out third-party cookies is a big step forward in terms of internet privacy, but still only a step. You can have more control over your data as far as your browser is concerned, but advertisers and marketers are likely to find new ways to get the information they need to market their wares and services. Conversational AI is one such way that’ll continue the contention between advertisers’ needs and user privacy. Companies that prioritise transparency and trust-building in their data practices will likely emerge as leaders in this new era.

For users, the takeaway is clear: the power to protect one’s privacy is increasingly in their hands, but vigilance will be required to navigate the evolving landscape of online tracking and data usage. In the end, the question is not whether user data will be collected, but how – and by whom.