Google not giving up on "tracking" users

Google has announced that it will not give up on the use of cookies in its Chrome browser, which allow users to be tracked on the sites they visit, five years after promising to gradually give up on third-party cookies. The decision marks a significant change of direction from the company's initial plans, according to an announcement made public and cited by AFP.

• Initial elimination plans

Starting in 2020, the Californian giant has proposed to block third-party cookies - those digital "trackers" that monitor user activity on multiple sites. In 2022, Google announced that it was working on a transition to a less invasive tracking system, capable of analyzing user preferences without accessing their complete browsing history.

• A change in strategy

After several delays, the company announced in July 2024 that it would not block cookies by default, but would allow users to choose whether to disable them or not. This week, in a post on the official blog, Anthony Chavez, vice president of the Privacy Sandbox division at Google, confirmed that the company would keep the current configuration.

• "Different perspectives" and changing regulations

"It is clear that there are different perspectives among content publishers, developers, regulators and the advertising industry on the changes to cookies," explained Chavez. He also stated that technological advances in recent years, in particular the development of artificial intelligence, have offered new solutions to protect online privacy, without completely compromising the ability to personalize content.

• Reasons behind the decision

Changes in international data protection legislation also influenced Google's decision, AFP reports. As regulations tighten in various parts of the world, the company prefers a flexible approach that allows it to adapt to local requirements without completely eliminating useful tools for the digital advertising industry.

• A fragile balance between privacy and advertising

For the time being, Google has chosen not to force the promised transition, opting instead for a compromise: keeping cookies but offering the option to disable them, in the context of an industry navigating between the need for privacy and the precise targeting requirements of advertising agencies.