Google has pushed back its planned blocking of third-party cookies on its Chrome internet browser from 2022 until 2023.
Cookies are used by websites to track users’ browsing activity to enable digital publishers to better target their adverts.
Many of Google’s competitors, including Apple, Microsoft and Mozilla, have already blocked them.
Vinay Goel, privacy engineering director for Google’s Chrome browser, said: “While there’s considerable progress with this initiative, it’s become clear that more time is needed across the ecosystem to get this right.”
He added: “We need to move at a responsible pace. This will allow sufficient time for public discussion on the right solutions, continued engagement with regulators, and for publishers and the advertising industry to migrate their services.
“This is important to avoid jeopardising the business models of many web publishers, which support freely available content. And, by providing privacy-preserving technology, we as an industry can help ensure that cookies are not replaced with alternative forms of individual tracking, and discourage the rise of covert approaches like fingerprinting.
Google plans to continue to work with the web community to create more private approaches to key areas, including ad measurement, delivering relevant ads and content, and fraud detection.
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