Google Won’t be Scrapping Third-Party Cookies

Admitad specialists shared insights on how they prepared for the removal of third-party cookies and how the changing situation will impact the affiliate business. 

The Background

Google announced plans to limit 3rd party cookies in Spring 2019 to protect user privacy, affecting the use of third-party cookies for user identification and tracking. This move would impact algorithms significantly, such as those used for personalized advertising campaigns like retargeting and interest-based targeting. 

The market’s reaction was predictable – major players in the advertising industry were outraged as the initiative directly affected companies’ infrastructure and stable revenue streams. Google promised to prepare a solution within two years to address the data shortage issue for advertising campaigns and analytics, leading to the development of the Privacy Sandbox program.

Google postponed deadlines several times, alternative tools were tested and replaced, but a universally suitable initiative was not found. Eventually, on July 22, 2024, Google announced its decision not to disable third-party cookies. 

How Admitad Reacted To The Removal Of Third-Party Cookies

Admitad’s technical specialists researched and analyzed the impact of the restrictions on their business. The team evaluated tools like Topics API, FLEDGE, Attribution Reporting, Private Aggregation API, Shared Storage, Fenced frames, CHIPS, Storage Partitioning, and identified risks the advertising market would face due to the Privacy Sandbox’s impact on advertisers and webmasters. They even found a useful tool, Private State Tokens, to combat fraud and improve conversion tracking quality. 

Anna Gidirim, CEO of Admitad, commented that Admitad would not be affected by the limitation of third-party cookies since we rarely use third-party cookies for tracking purposes. This news about the decision not to disable third-party cookies at Admitad had no impact on our operations, as Google’s Privacy Sandbox almost did not affect our business and did not pose risks to our development.