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As Meta, Google find cookies hard to give up, is there a way forward in 2026?

By Patricia Figueiredo and Matthew Newman ( December 31, 2025, 11:03 GMT | Comment) -- Privacy-enhancing technologies were meant to free online advertising from the tangle of tracking cookies, but UK and EU regulators end 2025 signaling that more work is required. Meta’s proposal of an encrypted attribution system still requires consent, while Google has abandoned plans to remove third-party cookies from Chrome. As companies conclude that innovation can support compliance, but that cookies can't be replaced just yet, advertisers face another year of uncertainty.After years of promoting privacy-enhancing technologies as the future of online advertising, UK and EU regulators end 2025 with a shared reality check: Across both jurisdictions, watchdogs are finding that replacing tracking cookies might be harder than imagined....

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