The Cookie Won’t Crumble No Matter How Hard Google Tries
The inability to design a suitable replacement means there is still pain and uncertainty ahead for the ad-funded parts of the internet.
How much advertising will Google control?
Photographer: Damien Meyer/AFP/Getty Images
It’s easy to be cynical about Google’s motives in abandoning its plan to phase out third-party cookies. After all, the little text files that track users’ habits are vital to those in the business of selling online advertising, none of which makes more money from the practice than Google.
However, the failure to come up with a workable alternative to the cookie is a problem, not just for the wider digital advertising business but for Google, too. The Cookie Apocalypse may have been put on indefinite hold, but it’s been clear for some time that the cookie’s days are numbered. The inability to design a suitable replacement that satisfies all stakeholders — regulators especially — means there is still pain and uncertainty ahead for the ad-funded parts of the internet.