One of the richest companies in the world, Google, recently announced they would be eliminating “cookies” from the Chrome browser by the year 2022.

Explaining the concept of ‘third-party cookies’ involves a little more tech lingo, but the gist of it is that they’re basically a digital advertiser’s best friend. Cookies on websites help them track where you have visited across the web, how many times, and from where. They then send you targeted ads of your ‘interests’, based on those those visits patterns.

While browsing the web, you may have noticed a little announcement that pops up usually from the end of the screen letting you know “This website uses cookies.” It then proceeds to tell you something along the lines of “By continuing to browse this website, you agree to the terms and services.” Maybe you just clicked “Ok” to get that stubborn little banner out of the way. Or maybe you never even noticed any trace of cookies at all. Whatever it may be, if you use Chrome, it’s very likely they are there.

According to the company, the decision to ban third-party cookies is part of an effort to ensure more privacy on the internet, especially for users. According to some experts, Google had no other choice but to eliminate cookies altogether, because their competitors Safari and Firefox already banned that third party activity.

Many advertisers big or small rely on cookies to target ads more efficiently, therefore Google is offering two years to let them figure out new digital advertising strategies.

 It seems like people are torn with this announcement. While, on the one hand, it’s a positive thing to promote a more private web by excluding third parties from acquiring your data; on the other, it allows both Google and Facebook to gather even more information from you because there is less competition to gain your data. Others argue that eliminating cookies will take a toll on smaller businesses that rely on their targeted ads. Meanwhile, some say that a cookie-free browser will create a more strategic and fair digital advertising environment.

What do you think about this? As a consumer, do you think you might notice a change in the ads you come across online?

Source: https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/1/16/21065641/google-chrome-cookie-ban-advertisers