Google cutting web cookies, ending lucrative tracking tool for advertisers

Alphabet Inc's Google within two years plans to block a common way businesses track online surfers in its Chrome browser, endorsing costly changes to how the Web operates as it tries to satisfy increased privacy demands from users. Google's plan is to restrict advertising software companies and other organizations from connecting their browser cookies to websites they do not operate, the company said in a blog post on Tuesday. Apple made a similar move in 2017 in its Safari browser, but Chrome's global market share is more than three times greater at about 64 percent, according to tracking company Statcounter. Though the two-year goal is new, Google's announcement had been expected within the industry for months. Financial analysts expect minimal effect on Google's own ad business because it gathers data on users in many other ways.