Kate Mills 
Dec 15, 2023
Google, the search engine magnate, announced on Thursday that a new feature aimed at controlling the advertisers using browser cookies is being tested.
The firm maintained that, with the help of the upcoming feature, it intends to block third-party cookies used by advertisers to target consumers.
Serving as an obstacle for cross-site tracking by default, the feature is set to be available for 1pc of Chrome users by Jan 4, 2024, as per Reuters report.
Read more: Google's new move against ad blockers: Slowing updates
Moreover, the company aims to entirely wipe out the use of third-party cookies for users by mid-2024.
The development of such a feature is solely to address concerns, driven by lack of trust, raised by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Google said.
Google's plan to drop support for some cookies in the browser has been under scrutiny by the watchdog organisation.
The CMA has attributed its close eye on Google to the probability of damaging healthy competition in digital marketing. The watchdog is also closely monitoring Google’s biggest moneymaking segment, advertising.
Advertisers have warned that the removal of cookies from the world’s most widely used browser will restrict advertisers’ ability to collect data for personalising adverts and make them reliant on Google’s user data.
According to a note published by brokerage Bofa Global Research, phasing out cookies will give media agencies more control, particularly those that can provide proprietary insights to advertisers on a large scale.
What are browser cookies?
Cookies are special files that allow websites and advertisers to identify individual web surfers and track their browsing habits.
