CMA oversight keeps Google’s cookie phase out in limbo as filings flag unresolved competition risks
Daniel Simon ·
The United Kingdom’s competition regulator has kept Google’s plan to remove cookies from Chrome on hold. The Competition and Markets Authority is using formal commitments to control the timing and design of Privacy Sandbox, a set of browser changes that would replace cookies on the open web.
The constraints are not new. They are documented and active, and they define what Google can ship and when.
What the filings say
In February 2022 the CMA accepted binding commitments from Google that prohibit the removal of cookies in Chrome until the regulator’s competition concerns are resolved. The commitments require Google to develop Privacy Sandbox under CMA oversight, report regularly, and give the CMA advance notice before any deprecation of cookies.
On April 26, 2024 Google said it would not remove cookies in the second half of 2024. The company wrote that any phase out is subject to addressing remaining competition concerns from the CMA and to engagement with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office. The CMA the same day published an update stating it was not yet satisfied that the Privacy Sandbox proposals would not distort competition in digital advertising.
These documents are explicit. The CMA’s case page details quarterly updates, testing milestones, and the requirement that Google provide at least 60 days notice before starting any removal of cookies in Chrome.
The structural stakes
Chrome’s position amplifies the effect. External estimates from StatCounter for mid 2024 place Chrome’s share of the global browser market at about two thirds, which gives Google effective control over the timetable for an industry wide change that affects publishers, advertisers, and rival ad tech.
Publishers face a prolonged transition where measurement and targeting on the open web remain uncertain. Independent ad tech firms must build to evolving Sandbox APIs while competing with Google’s logged in surfaces like Search and YouTube that are not constrained by third party cookies.
The CMA has flagged this risk. In its published updates the regulator has warned that elements of Sandbox could shift spending toward Google’s own tools or raise rivals’ costs if not designed with effective safeguards. Alphabet’s 2023 annual report also cautioned that privacy and platform changes may affect the performance of advertising products and related revenues.
The commercial incentives are clear. As long as cookies remain, Google avoids a breakage event for advertisers on the open web while it continues to expand first party ad inventory and signals.
What happens next
Under the commitments, Google cannot proceed until the CMA concludes that competition concerns are addressed. The regulator has kept a cadence of quarterly publications and has required further testing and remedy design.
The next inflection point is procedural rather than promotional. Google must submit compliance reports and provide notice before any change to cookie behavior, and the CMA can reopen concerns or require alterations if competitive effects are not mitigated. For publishers and smaller ad tech firms, the timing means another sales cycle spent hedging against an uncertain standard that only one company controls.