There has been a lot of confusion about Google’s Privacy Sandbox lately, with some reports saying that the project is dead. The truth is more complicated.
Google has officially given up on its long-term plan to get rid of third-party cookies in its Chrome browser, but the larger Privacy Sandbox project is still moving forward.
This is a big change in how Google thinks about web privacy. Instead of forcing people to change their technology, they are now focusing on giving users more choices.
The decision, which was made public in April 2025, came after almost five years of delays and close examination. Google was stuck between different points of view in the industry, pressure from regulators like the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), and the technical problems with the replacements it suggested.
The company ultimately chose to keep things the way they are. Chrome’s current Privacy and Security Settings still let users control third-party cookie settings. They don’t have to get a new prompt or stop using the old one.
The Current Status of the Privacy Sandbox
So, what does this mean for the different technologies that were made under the name “Privacy Sandbox”? The project is still going on. Google says in its most recent messages that it is “evaluating the role the Privacy Sandbox APIs can play going forward” because of the new strategy.
The Topics API (for interest-based advertising), the Protected Audience API (for remarketing), and the Attribution Reporting API (for campaign measurement) are all still working, but their future development plans are being looked at.
The advertising industry has given feedback that these APIs have problems, such as being too complicated, costing too much to run, and not working as well as traditional third-party cookies.
Google has heard this feedback and is thinking about what to do next. The company is also putting money into other privacy-protecting technologies for Chrome, like IP Protection, which is set to come out in Incognito mode in the third quarter of 2025.
Why Google changed course on Third-Party Cookies
There were a number of factors that led Google to change its mind about cookie deprecation. Regulators were worried that getting rid of third-party cookies while pushing Google’s own Privacy Sandbox alternatives could make the company even more powerful in digital advertising.
At the same time, the replacement APIs had technical problems and didn’t get much use in the advertising industry, which questioned how well they worked and said they were “apathetic” because the timelines kept changing.
Early tests showed that taking away third-party cookies without strong replacements could have caused a big drop in ad revenue for publishers who used Google’s platforms, and maybe even for Google itself.
Due to these problems in the industry, with the law, and with technology, the best way to move forward was to switch to a user-choice model.
In conclusion, it is inaccurate to assert that the Privacy Sandbox is defunct. With third-party cookies still being able to be used in Chrome for the foreseeable future, the project is in a state of transition.
The focus has changed from a quick change to a slow progression. Google is still working on privacy technologies while interacting with the ecosystem to figure out what their final role will be.
