Google wants to protect users’ privacy and it has plans to implement “privacy-preserving technologies” instead of third-party cookies for targeted advertising purposes. The company, whose business is largely based on advertising, wants to make two concepts compatible that do not get along too well: advertising and privacy.
Part of Google’s shift towards privacy involves the elimination of third-party cookies, which are one of the ways of tracking users in the browser. The company has clarified that, when cookies disappear, they will not create new identifiers to track users on the web. Instead, they will rely on anonymization technologies, aggregation, and cohorts of users with similar profiles.
Goodbye third-party cookies
Cookies have been with us for almost 30 years now. They allow us to keep sessions open on web pages, save data and preferences in the browser; but, they are the main driver of user tracking.
Google has been preparing the ground for some time to put an end to third-party cookies. Some browsers such as Safari, Brave, and Firefox already block some cookies. This is why Chrome plans to do the same in 2022.
Google is preparing privacy-preserving technologies for targeted advertising
In the meantime, Google has been working on different initiatives under the Privacy Sandbox umbrella, to do the same as with cookies, but in a different way and without identifying the user, such as trust tokens. Google has now wanted to clarify their intentions that in the post-cookie era they will not create a new user identifier with which to track users. In addition, they will not use these personal identifiers in their products either.
This does not mean that Google will throw in the towel on personalized advertising. Instead, it will change the way it personalizes such advertising without personal identifiers. The idea is to use cohorts or groups of users who have similar browsing habits. For example, “people who like jack russels”.
