It appears that Google has taken its Privacy Sandbox initiative seriously and recently even disabled third-party cookies for 1% of its Chrome users. Later in 2024, the giant is expected to completely clear cookies. But while that's good, the problems don't seem to stop pouring onto Google's plate.
Google agrees to destroy millions of users' "Incognito" Search for data to settle lawsuits in the United States
In 2020, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Google by its account holders, represented by Boies Schiller Flexner, alleging that Chrome users' data is stored despite using incognito mode. This became very controversial, very quickly.
After nearly four years, Google has finally agreed to either completely get rid of or "de-identify" billions of users' incognito data. The $5 billion Motion for Miscellaneous Relief against Google states: "This settlement is a historic step in requiring dominant technology companies to be honest in their representations to users about how the companies collect and use user data, and that they remove and processes collected data."
Earlier this year, Google updated the wording in Chrome's incognito mode. Now the wording lets users know that "You've gone incognito. Others using this device won't see your activity, so you can browse more privately. This won't change how data is collected by websites you visit and the services they use, including Google.”