Google has announced that the phase-out of third-party cookies on Chrome, initially scheduled for 2024, has been postponed to 2025. This delay was influenced by a request from the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which asked for additional evidence and time to assess the impact of Chrome’s Privacy Sandbox on the market.

Marcello Gruppo, Senior Director, Research&Insights, Southern Europe at Ogury, comments that “The fact that Chrome’s cookie phase-out may undergo a shift from 2024 to 2025 is irrelevant: it is normal for bodies in charge of safeguarding the competitive environment of the market to perform thorough checks during a process like this. In fact, an extraordinarily important infrastructural change is taking place that must be subject to special attention. The controls themselves reflect the significant scope and impact of the change generated by the abandonment of cookies. Any delays in completing the process can be considered physiological and integral to the process itself and, I would add, totally in line with market expectations.”