Advertisers didn’t like the plan because they would lose an easy and effective advertising method. They paid for the activity data and then could selectively deliver ads that could catch you while you were likely interested in buying something. And that technology has become incredibly fast and far-flung. For instance, if you were searching for hiking trails on Google, that data could be passed on to an outdoor retailer who would then show you ads in your browser and in your social media feeds for hiking gear in as little as a few minutes.

Regulators didn’t like Google’s plan either, claiming it could give Google even more of an unfair competitive advantage over other advertising platforms. Google is currently awaiting the outcome of a historical lawsuit with the U.S. Department of Justice that claims its search engine product is “an illegal monopoly propped up by more than $20 billion spent each year by the tech giant to lock out competition.” Closing arguments were delivered in early May and a decision was expected within “several months,” the judge hearing the case said.

The timing of Google’s cookie plan reversal comes at a point when the company would not want to compound its reputation as a possible monopoly. Keeping third-party cookies lets advertisers leverage Google’s platform; eliminating them will simply keep more data within Google’s walls. Plus, its alternative didn’t work very well. Google would still track what you do and then assign users to profiles with people who have similar interests. Those profiles could then be used by advertisers to target ads without your personal information. Advertisers didn’t like it and said, like the regulators, that it gave Google an unfair advantage.

So, what’s next? In a blog post on Google’s Privacy Sandbox, the division that is tasked with finding solutions to the advertiser versus consumer privacy challenges, the company acknowledged its original plan needed more work. In the post, “A New Path for Privacy Sandbox on the Web,” they stood behind their model and said it had potential: “We expect that overall performance using Privacy Sandbox APIs will improve over time as industry adoption increases.”

The new path is all about user choice: “Instead of deprecating third-party cookies, we would introduce a new experience in Chrome that lets people make an informed choice that applies across their web browsing, and they’d be able to adjust that choice at any time.” Google will work with regulators as they finalize the plan “on the next phase of the journey to a more private web.” No other details were released, so it left me wondering how is that different from opting out of targeted advertising today?

Right now, you can go into Chrome Settings, select Privacy and Security, and then Third-party cookies. You then have three options: Allow, Block in incognito mode or Block third-party cookies. If you choose the third option to block them, you can still specify exceptions, those websites that you allow to track your activity. Chrome’s new experience might just add a more visible opt-in or opt-out message when you open the browser, much like Apple did when it launched its Do Not Track feature in 2021 that panicked advertisers, and for good reason.

Six months after Apple launched this option, 38% of iPhone users opted in and 62% opted out, according to survey results reported by AppsFlyer. In response, big advertisers including Meta and Snap focused efforts on their own cookies to gather the data they needed. We can expect a similar result when Google puts its own no third-party tracking option up front, but this time, companies – at least those that relied on Apple tracking – have had several years to prepare. And you will continue to receive targeted ads.

Leslie Meredith has been writing about technology for more than a decade. As a mom of four, value, usefulness, and online safety take priority. Have a question? Email Leslie at asklesliemeredith@gmail.com