Google makes abrupt U-turn by dropping plan to remove ad-tracking cookies on Chrome browser

LONDON — Google is abandoning plans to remove cookies from its Chrome web browser, making a sudden U-turn on four years of work to phase out a technology that helps companies track users online.

The company had been working to remove third-party cookies, which are pieces of code that record user information, as part of an effort to overhaul user privacy options in Chrome. But the proposal, also known as the Privacy Sandbox, had sparked fears in the online advertising industry that any replacement technology would leave even less room for online advertising rivals.

In a blog post on Monday, Google said it decided to abandon the plan after considering the impact of the changes on publishers, advertisers and “everyone involved in online advertising.”

The UK’s top competition regulator, which has been involved in overseeing the Privacy Sandbox project, said Google will instead give users the option to block or allow third-party cookies in the browser.

Google “will introduce a new experience in Chrome that will allow people to make an informed decision that will apply to their web browsing, and they will be able to adjust that choice at any time,” Anthony Chavez, vice president of Privacy Sandbox, said in the email. “We are discussing this new path with regulators and will collaborate with the industry as we implement it.”

Advertisers use cookies to target ads to web users, but privacy advocates say they can be used to track users across the Internet.

Google proposed for the first time to eliminate cookies in 2020, but the deadline for completing the work had been delayed several times. Chrome is the world’s dominant web browser, and many others, such as Microsoft Edge, are based on the company’s Chromium technology.