Privacy Sandbox, Google's attempt to create an alternative to cookies, appears to have come to an end. The company announced that it is discontinuing 11 Privacy Sandbox technologies — essentially the entire spectrum.
Privacy Sandbox Vice President Anthony Chavezsaid in a post that the team reached this decision “after evaluating ecosystem feedback on their expected value and in light of low adoption levels.”
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Google launched the Privacy Sandbox initiative in August 2019 as a way for advertisers to gain insight into users without having to support third-party. It faced intense criticism from the industry. Google’s dreams of a cookie-free future took a hit after the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced it was launching an investigation into whether Google was abusing its dominant position in the browser market. Several US states followed suit. That legal pressure eventually paid off.
In July last year, Google backed down on its insistence that Privacy Sandbox would be the dominant privacy technology in Chrome. The CMA gave a guarded response to this and said it was still seeking further commitments from Google. In April, the company made more concessions, and now, this latest move appears to concerns antitrust. However, the lack of adoption of Privacy Sandbox likely played a larger role in its discontinuation.
Low adoption of Privacy Sandbox
According to Javvad Malik, principal CISO at software company KnowBe4: “Low adoption is a useful sign. It suggests that the Sandbox package did not provide enough measurable value relative to the operational complexity and risk. When incentives, tools, and accountability are not aligned, even privacy-preserving technology struggles to be adopted.”
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He said that while he could understand why Google would want an alternative to cookies, there was also a technical requirement. “When it comes to an alternative to cookies, being technically viable is not the same as being adaptable. Tools need to be built with users in mind. If there’s too much friction with inconsistent APIs and uncertain ROI, many teams will struggle to adopt it.”
The technologies that Google is discontinuing are: Attribution Reporting API for Chrome and Android, IP Protection, Protected Audience API for Chrome and Android, Protected App Signals, On Device Personalization, Related Website Sets, Private Aggregation (including Shared Storage), Select URL, SDK Runtime, and Topics for Chrome and Android.
However, the Privacy Sandbox decision is unlikely to have a significant impact on Google's dominance of the browser market. Chrome had a 72% share of the browser in September, according to Statcounter.
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What's not clear is what will happen to those companies that have implemented Privacy Sandbox technologies in their own organizations. A Google spokesperson said: "We will continue our work to improve privacy across Chrome, Android, and the web, but we will be moving away from the Privacy Sandbox brand. We are grateful to everyone who contributed to this initiative, and we will continue to work with the industry to develop and advance platform technologies that help support a healthy and thriving web."
