Google's Privacy Sandbox feature to replace third-party cookies

Google is extending its Privacy Sandbox feature, designed to replace third-party cookies, to all Chrome users. This new feature is promoted as a more privacy-conscious approach that tracks users' areas of interest based on their browsing behaviour. Advertisers can then utilize this data to display relevant advertisements.

In recent days, the company has been displaying a new pop-up message about Privacy Sandbox to users. Some users have expressed dissatisfaction with the pop-up, claiming that it lacks sufficient information about the cookie replacement technology and how the company generates topics of interest from browsing data when users click 'Got it'.

If users click the option on the pop-up, the feature will be activated by default. To disable it, users will need to navigate to Settings > Privacy and Security > Ad Privacy > Ad topics. This action will prevent advertisers from displaying targeted ads based on users' interests. Furthermore, the Ad Topics tab allows users to view the topics generated by Chrome's system and block any they consider irrelevant.

Despite being a dominant force in the web browser space, Google is behind competitors like Firefox and Safari in disabling third-party cookies. In May, the company announced plans to disable third-party cookies by default for all users in the second half of 2024, with an initial rollout to 1% of users in Q1 2024.