Google’s Cookie Revival Exposes Delays in Privacy Sandbox, Leaving Chrome Users in Tracking Limbo

Forget about the iPhone 16 and iOS 18; Apple’s standout achievement this year might well be its uncanny timing. Just as Apple’s revamped ad, reminiscent of Hitchcock’s *The Birds*, publicly criticized Google Chrome—without naming it—Chrome hit a significant milestone by reaching 3 billion users. This was followed by a surprising revival of cookies, prompting headlines such as “Google’s latest privacy changes in Chrome prove Apple’s nightmare ad is all too real.”

For the vast Chrome user base, the core issue is the timing—or rather, the lack thereof. Google had intended to phase out cookies in favor of anonymized tracking methods, such as new industry standards and similar approaches. However, regulatory concerns over the potential damage to the industry and doubts about the efficacy of these alternatives have caused delays.

Despite the setbacks, the phasing out of Chrome’s tracking cookies was intended to push forward the development of their replacement, the Privacy Sandbox. With cookies temporarily retained, the issue has been deferred, and while the concept of tracking options similar to Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) sounds promising, it remains elusive.

In a recent virtual industry panel, Alex Cone, the Privacy Sandbox’s product manager, revealed, “We’re at work on those [new] designs, and we’ll discuss those with regulators as we advance… there’s no new information to provide.”

Regarding the expansion of the Privacy Sandbox, which is supposed to run alongside cookies, Cone stated, “We have not shared a timeline around any sort of ramp-up… No new information to share on that.”

In simpler terms, there’s currently no solution in place for the tracking “nightmare” affecting Chrome users—a situation that Google and regulators have engineered. The development and launch of such a fix are not entirely within Google’s control, leaving a void in updates about its progress or timing.

Ad Exchanger reported Cone’s comments and added that “the Privacy Sandbox may serve as a cookie alternative, but Google asserts it was never meant to be a substitute for cookies.” Thus, the deprecation of Chrome cookies and the adoption of the Privacy Sandbox were never directly linked, although regulators and much of the advertising industry might have expected otherwise.

Previously, discussions between Google and entities like the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) were anchored around a set date for cookie deprecation. Now, however, the timeline is open-ended, which means the tracking industry continues as before.

This situation highlights the major issue: despite its design flaws, the Privacy Sandbox was seen as a concrete plan to replace cookies, representing a shift in tracking methods. There was a target date—frequently missed, but a date nonetheless. Now, the conversation has shifted to an abstract debate about user choice and whether Google’s unequal information about its users might benefit Google at the expense of the ad industry, similarly to concerns raised about the Privacy Sandbox.

The CMA responded to Google’s update by stating, “We will need to carefully consider Google’s new approach. We welcome views on Google’s revised approach, including possible implications for consumers and market outcomes.”

The CMA’s role is to balance Google’s business interests with those of the broader industry. Users will still be tracked; the debate centers on the method. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has warned that “the targeting of ads based on people’s online behavior should be banned. Behavioral advertising incentivizes all online actors to use tracking technology, like third-party cookies, to collect as much of our information as possible. We need robust privacy legislation in the United States to ensure that privacy standards aren’t set by advertising companies like Google.”

The challenge for Chrome users is that the advertising and tracking industries had already made significant progress in finding alternatives to cookies, anticipating their removal. The abrupt shift following Google’s announcement was palpable across the web. As Ad Exchanger noted, “deprecation was the forcing mechanism for Sandbox adoption. If third-party cookies remain widely available, advertisers, ad tech, and publishers won’t rebuild their online advertising infrastructure.”

This means users face a major retrenchment, with no immediate prospect of meaningful change. As Apple’s ad aptly puts it, “your browsing is being watched.”