Google Chrome resumes SameSite cookie update

Google on Thursday announced that it was resuming the rollout of the SameSite cookie update with the stable release of Chrome 84 starting July 14. The update will be gradually rolled out to Chrome 80 and older versions of Google’s web browser.

To give you a brief about the SameSite cookie update, Google first started rolling out the update back in February this year. The SameSite cookie update is essentially aimed at changing the way cookies are handled by the browser and in turn making the overall web browsing experience safer for users. Earlier, Chrome used to accept cookies, even from third parties, by default. The SameSite update changed that by “treating cookies that don’t include a SameSite label as first-party only, and require cookies labeled for third-party use to be accessed over HTTPS”.

The aim, as mentioned before, was to make third-party cookies more secure and give users more precise browser cookie controls.

The company, however, paused the update back in April owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. This was done to ensure that the websites don’t crash due to the update. “...in light of the extraordinary global circumstances due to COVID-19, we are temporarily rolling back the enforcement of SameSite cookie labeling, starting today. While most of the web ecosystem was prepared for this change, we want to ensure stability for websites providing essential services including banking, online groceries, government services and healthcare that facilitate our daily life during this time,” Google had written in a blog post.

Now, nearly two months later, the company had announced that it would be resuming rolling out the update in July. “Since April we have continued to monitor overall ecosystem readiness, and engage with websites and services to ensure they are prepared for the SameSite labeling policy. We are planning to resume our SameSite cookie enforcement coinciding with the stable release of Chrome 84 on July 14,” the company added.