Privacy Sandbox APIs are not intended to be direct, one-to-one replacements for all third-party cookie: Google

Google is encouraging everyone to prepare for third party cookie deprecation in 2024. In a bid to explain the effectiveness and impact of the Privacy Sandbox—an industry-wide initiative fostering technologies balancing online privacy and digital business growth—the internet giant has released a comprehensive blog post addressing common queries and concerns.

“It’s imperative we work together to transition the internet to become more private. Users deserve it, and a growing set of regulations require it. Making this transition while continuing to support free access to online content and experiences is the core of Privacy Sandbox’s mission. This requires new privacy-preserving technologies that support key developer needs—including online advertising—that today rely on third-party cookies and other identifiers that can track user activity across sites,” said Victor Wong, senior director of product management, Privacy Sandbox in a blog.

The blog also said that in contrast, other web browsers have restricted third-party cookies without providing viable alternatives to support developers. This makes it harder for publishers to support their content and services, and it's bad for user privacy because it leads to more covert forms of user tracking.

“But make no mistake; even with new building blocks in place, moving away from third-party cookies is a significant change. After all, the industry has optimised around cookies for nearly three decades! And change is hard, requiring time and effort to understand and adopt new approaches,” Wong added.

The blog clarified that privacy Sandbox APIs are not intended to be direct, one-to-one replacements for all third-party cookie based use cases or to be a standalone ad tech solution.

“They are designed to provide foundational elements that support core business objectives for marketers and publishers (like driving online sales and serving relevant ads), without cross-site identifiers. Developers can utilize them alongside other technologies and inputs to achieve those outcomes. Similarly, products built on third-party cookies also require layers of technology and services to address business needs,” said Wong.

As per the blog, because these APIs, by design, don’t recreate the same functionality of third-party cookies and other cross-site identifiers, developers may need to redesign how their existing products work.

Addressing the issue of privacy sandbox being too complex compared to using identifiers the blogpost said, “Designing systems that shield the identity of the user across sites and restrict the amount of available data, while enabling key developer outcomes, requires technology innovation and an openness to new paradigms.Using new, privacy-preserving building blocks also requires effort, ingenuity and time. We’re encouraged by the builders we already see retooling their solutions using the Relevance and Measurement APIs as key building blocks to achieve advertiser goals, without third-party cookies and unbounded cross-site data.”

Wong’s blogpost also addressed other common concerns about the future of privacy sandbox, APIs not advancing Google or giving special treatment to Google products and services, cost effectiveness and others.