Google has been working on removing third-party cookies that track you across the internet. Its been over a year since the search engine giant has been developing its Privacy Sandbox and now it has overcome a major hurdle in the way.
Google has just received the green light from the UK’s competition regulator called the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The CMA has announced that it has formally accepted that Google’s efforts to remove third-party cookies don’t impede competition or unfairly benefit Google’s advertising business.
Andrea Coscelli, the chief executive at CMA has said that while it did approve of Google’s Privacy Sandbox standards, it will still be keeping a close eye on the company as it develops these proposals. Here is the full statement:
The commitments we have obtained from Google will promote competition, help to protect the ability of online publishers to raise money through advertising and safeguard users’ privacy. While this is an important step, we are under no illusions that our work is done. We now move into a new phase where we will keep a close eye on Google as it continues to develop these proposals. We will engage with all market participants in this process, in order to ensure that Google is taking account of concerns and suggestions raised.
However, this does not mean that Google is ready to phase out third-party cookies from Chrome. The company plans to put its Privacy Sandbox standards by the end of next year. It’s a major project after all and it will take some time before everything is ready to go.