The coronavirus outbreak, and the resulting changes to many peoples’ schedules, has led to everything from movies to retail sales being delayed. Chrome’s release schedule has already been disrupted, but now Google is rolling back a recent change to how the browser handles cookies, so all websites will continue to function as they do now.
One of the more drastic changes to Chrome in recent history started to roll out earlier this year: SameSite Cookies. It modifies the behavior of browser cookies to disable some types of cross-site tracking, but it has the side effect of breaking some websites that haven’t been updated recently.
The middle of a worldwide pandemic probably isn’t the best time to break some websites from functioning, and as a result, Google is rolling back the change 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,” the company wrote in a blog post.
There’s currently no precise date for when the change will roll out again, but Google is aiming for “over the summer.”
