Google is starting a phased rollout of its Privacy Sandbox initiative, deprecating third-party cookies for 1 % of Chrome users in Q1 of 2024. The limited launch is designed to give developers time to test the readiness and effectiveness of their cookieless products in real-world environments.
The news follows several years of delays on the deprecation, which Google announced in 2020. With new privacy regulations and increased demand for user-control over data, Google’s Sandbox Privacy is part of the company’s commitment to eliminating third-party cookies.
“Increased traffic and cookieless testing options will significantly help the evaluation of the Privacy Sandbox solutions, such as Protected Audience, and the preparedness for Chrome’s third-party cookie deprecation,” says Paul Ryan, CTO of programmatic ad exchange OpenX.
Third-party cookies — which have issues with privacy and transparency — are still set to be fully eliminated in the second half of 2024. In anticipation of cookie deprecation, many brands have turned to cookieless options — like first- or zero-party data sources — for their marketing tactics.
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