GOOGLE VOWS NO NEW USER TRACKING IN CHROME TO SELL ADS

Google says it won’t develop new ways to follow individual users across the internet after it phases out existing ad tracking technology from Chrome browsers, in a change that threatens to shake up the online advertising industry.

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The digital giant has been working on proposals to remove from Chrome so-called third-party cookies, which are snippets of code used by a website’s advertisers to record browsing history in order to show users personalized ads.

Third-party cookies have long been a key tool for marketers to deliver targeted ads but they’ve also been a source of privacy concerns, so Google has proposed instead grouping together web users with similar interests and keeping web histories private on user devices.

Now the company - which will continue to be able to track users through its services like Search or Maps - has signaled that it’s taking another step toward abandoning the use of individual tracking for ad sales.