Google Reverses Third-Party Cookie Phaseout, Privacy Sandbox Relegated to Support Role
Ddos 
Currently, the industry widely relies on cookie technology to store user data, and advertising networks use cookies to track and identify users in order to deliver targeted (personalized or precision) ads, aiming to improve click-through and conversion rates.
However, the practice of tracking users via cookies has faced extensive criticism. Advertising networks can leverage cookies to monitor users over extended periods, mapping out their interests and preferences—an approach widely regarded as deeply invasive from a privacy standpoint.
To address these concerns, Google introduced a new initiative in 2019 known as the Privacy Sandbox. The project aimed to phase out third-party cookies while still enabling advertising networks to serve targeted ads by grouping users based on shared interests, thereby reducing the exposure of individual user data.
Yet, Google has since reversed course. In April 2024, the company announced it was postponing the retirement of third-party cookies in Chrome—cookies primarily used by advertising networks, as opposed to first-party cookies essential for website functions such as user login.
By July 2024, Google declared a complete withdrawal of its plan to eliminate third-party cookies. The company explained that transitioning from third-party cookies to the Privacy Sandbox would require significant work and could disrupt websites, ad networks, and all businesses involved in online advertising. As a result, Google abandoned its previous commitment to deprecate third-party cookies.
As a consolation, Google offered Chrome users greater control by allowing them to block third-party cookies through browser settings. However, this so-called control is largely symbolic, as most users lack the awareness or initiative to configure cookie settings—effectively restoring the advertising ecosystem to its former state of perpetual user tracking.
Now, Anthony Chavez, Vice President of Google’s Privacy Sandbox initiative, has confirmed that the company will not introduce a feature to help users disable third-party cookies. On the contrary, cookie support will remain unchanged, and may even be preserved indefinitely.
Chavez acknowledged that this shift implies a new role for the Privacy Sandbox APIs in the marketplace—a tactful way of admitting that the Privacy Sandbox has become something of an orphaned project. Even if Google continues development, it is unlikely that advertising networks will voluntarily abandon cookies.
Google claims it will continue to strengthen Chrome’s existing tracking protections, including default third-party cookie blocking in Incognito Mode, and will roll out an IP Protection feature in Q3 2025. This feature will use a two-proxy system to mask users’ real IP addresses, allowing only intermediary proxy IPs to be visible to advertising networks—thereby complicating efforts to track individual users.
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