Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge
This summer, Google began rolling out its new Topics API, which “allows a browser to share information with third parties about a user’s interests while preserving privacy.” A part of Google’s new Privacy Sandbox, the API is supposed to replace the third-party cookies that have been following us around for many years now, reporting where we go and what we buy, among other info.
The Topics API was included in July’s Chrome 115 release, and if you don’t have it yet, you will soon. If the idea of sharing information about your interests with third parties doesn’t thrill you, you can easily turn it off. Here’s how:
In Chrome, start at the three dots in the upper-right corner and go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Ad privacy. (Or just…