What next after Google removes third party cookies?

A few years back, Google announced that third party cookies would become obsolete in Chrome. Firefox and Safari browsers banned the use of the same in 2019 but Google has delayed on its promise. What next after Google removes third party cookies?

What are third party cookies?
A cookie is a small text file that a website may save on a user’s computer or mobile device when they visit a website site. 

“Cookies allow the website to remember the user’s actions and preferences, such as login information, language, font size, and other display preferences over a period of time. That way, the user does not have to continually enter them whenever they come back to the site or browse from one page to another. It is a way a website helps to offer a customised experience for a user. Imagine always having to enter your username and password every time you clicked on Twitter to chat,” Mustapha B Mugisa, the team leader at Summit Consulting Limited, says. 

For example, if Facebook places cookies on the Nation Media Group (NMG) website where it collects data on which stories users prefer, it is right to say Facebook is a third-party cookie on the NMG website. 

A third-party cookie could also be referred to as tracking cookie set by a domain other than the one a user is visiting, to monitor user behaviour and browsing habits. It is why that jewellery you saw on your browser a week ago may still be following you around the internet as you browse “Allowing third-party cookies could result in privacy concerns as the information collected may be used to build a user’s profile and track their online activity across multiple websites,” Mugisa says.

Many companies such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, and LinkedIn place third party cookies. The more data a company collects about online users, the better. Mugisa says therefore, companies will try as much as possible to pay rent and place their cookies on other popular websites, so they may track user behaviour.

On to first party cookies
When third party cookies are stopped, there will be first party cookies -- which are set by the website a user is visiting.

Bringing it home, Ronald Muyimba, an internet editor at NMG, says while third party is a machine where the cookies are stored, first party is browser and the user’s account. 

“The information was previously stored on the computer but now, it is on the chrome account. That means research is not lost even when one changes the machine. Therefore, tracking just got more sophisticated,” he says.

Mugisa says this move is brought on by the data protection laws in the various countries it has presence. As such, Google is looking to see it adheres without running out of business. 

“Google is stopping third party cookies in Chrome browser owing to increasing abuse of the data collected from users, which is used for directed marketing and surveillance. That raised a lot of privacy and security concerns and could be a source of litigation risks,” Mugisa says.

With first party cookies, he says that on visiting a website, it will most likely ask you for consent to allow it to collect your username and password so you do not have to remember them next time. 

“This is a requirement of Uganda’s Data Protection and Privacy Act, 2019. These cookies are used to store user preferences and login information, among other things. Unlike third-party cookies, first-party cookies are less invasive and do not raise the same privacy concerns. Their impact is mainly on improving the user experience by remembering user preferences and login information,” he says.

Implications
Mugisa says advertisers can still use first-party cookies to track though these give power to the user. 

“In the past, if Chrome allowed a third-party cookie on a big website, chances are it is from a fraudster company that pays, say a big tech company to collect user data. So, someone’s browsing data is tracked without their knowledge and consent because they have used a website such as YouTube. Other than giving the company audience, the tech company does not know how the third party intends to use it. In the end, users may get spam emails, and massive advertising or even risk identity theft. All these are reduced with first party cookies,” he says.

Muyimba says the biggest drive of cookies and crawlers are Google, Amazon and Facebook. That is why Google changed the way of accessing Google Chrome, asking users to login to use all the other Google products. 
“That way, they become a trusted person hence easily getting information from you,” he says.
However, tech giants have been around for a long time and have a lot of third party information, which Muyimba says is a disservice to emerging companies.

However, tech giants have been around for a long time and have a lot of third party information, which Muyimba says is a disservice to emerging companies.

“Smaller players will find it hard to enter the market unless they partner with these three giants who have the ability to get information from users in a manner that the new players do not. To throw light on this, while it is easy for one to sign up for a Facebook because they have heard about it from many, they may shy away from an emerging social media platform. 

Therefore, this new player either partners with Facebook or has to do ferocious adverting to make itself known. The latter is easier but in return, Facebook will get revenue from this new company,” he says.

Mugisa says that advertisers must work harder to bring traffic to their sites so they use first-party cookies.
 
“Companies that were using third party parties may not necessarily be providers of essential services, so prices do not have to increase. The genuine ones should focus on advertising to drive traffic,” he says.

The removal of third party cookies also means Google Ads will be affected as Google must put in more effort to ensure they get the exact information using first party cookies.
“That means more costs for the adverts. It could also mean that Google drops the whole campaign because of the extra work,” Muyimba says.

With other browsers totally abandoning cookies while others such as Opera, and Tor Browser have no trackers, Muyimba says people may actually move away from Chrome to such browsers.

[email protected]