Is Google still getting rid of third-party cookies?
No. Google abandoned its plan to remove third-party cookies from Chrome. In 2024 it dropped the phase-out, in April 2025 it said it would not introduce a separate cookie-choice prompt, and in October 2025 it retired most Privacy Sandbox APIs, including Topics and Protected Audience. Third-party cookies remain available in Chrome, while Safari and Firefox block them by default.
Google first announced a third-party cookie phase-out in 2020 and delayed it repeatedly while building the Privacy Sandbox. After deciding to keep cookies, it cited low adoption when it retired the Topics API, Protected Audience API, Attribution Reporting and several other APIs in October 2025. A few narrower features, such as CHIPS partitioned cookies, FedCM and Private State Tokens, remain.
That does not mean nothing changed. Safari and Firefox users are already largely cookieless advertising, Apple's App Tracking Transparency limits app tracking, and privacy laws such as GDPR still require consent. Many advertisers continue building first-party data, contextual targeting and alternative IDs to cope with signal loss.