Google to delay cookie phase out until 2023

Google announced Thursday that it will delay the removal of third-party cookies from its Chrome web browser after resistance from regulators and the advertising industry.

Google will now phase out the user tracking technology over a three-month period in mid-2023, the company said in a blog post, nearly two years later than its initial timeline. 

“While there’s considerable progress with this initiative, it’s become clear that more time is needed across the ecosystem to get this right,” Chrome’s director of privacy engineering Vinay Goel wrote.

The delay will give more time for regulators, publishers and the ad industry to adapt to the changes, Google says.

“And by providing privacy-preserving technology, we as an industry can help ensure that cookies are not replaced with alternative forms of individual tracking, and discourage the rise of covert approaches like fingerprinting,” Goel wrote.