Chrome will test at least the blocking of third-party cookies from January 2024

Google will start testing blocking websites’ access to third-party cookies by default in Chrome on January 4, targeting the 1% of users who use Chrome on PCs and “Android” smartphones, mentions Anthony Chavez, head of Google’s “Privacy Sandbox” project, on the company’s blog.

Google plans to extend the blocking of third-party cookies subsequently to all Chrome users by the end of 2024. However, it should be noted that this calendar has been postponed many times in recent years.

Even if this test will only affect a small percentage of users at first, it is an important change for the web.

A risk for Google’s business model

Cookies are small text files that websites store on smartphones and computers and that have been used since the very beginning of the web to track the browsing habits of Internet users.

Despite the efforts made to protect privacy, it has been difficult to delete them.

According to the analysis firm StatCounter, Chrome is the browser that has the largest browser market share in the world, with 63% of PDM.

The main competing browsers, such as Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox and Brave, started blocking cookies several years ago; but Google is acting more slowly.

The company is probably more worried than its competitors about undermining the online advertising industry with this measure.