Starting January 2, 2024, Google has revealed that its Drive service will no longer demand the activation of third-party cookies to download files. This modification is in line with Google’s plan to disable third-party cookies in its Chrome browser, mimicking the steps taken by other browser developers like Mozilla and Apple to boost user privacy.
The impact on user experience
The upcoming change promises to resolve a persistent problem in Google Drive that can obstruct users from downloading files if they have disabled third-party cookies. If you’ve ever faced this problem, Google’s official support page currently suggests creating a manual exception for Google Drive to permit these cookies.
Behind the scenes: What’s really going on?
Although Google hasn’t explicitly mentioned why Drive relies on third-party cookies, experts are theorising that it’s related to security measures. Google Drive uses a different domain, namely googleusercontent.com, to store content uploaded by users. The third-party cookies are then utilised to confirm that you are authorised to download a specific file.ย
