First Party Cookies: Facebook Introduces New Advertising Tracking Option

As some browsers are making tracking via third-party cookies increasingly difficult, Facebook is introducing a new option that will allow advertisers to continue tracking their website traffic accurately: The social network will offer an option to switch to first-party cookies.

Tracking based on third-party cookies can now lead to falsified results. Browsers like Apple's Safari delete cookies from third-party providers after 24 hours. If a user only returns to a website after this period, he is not classified as a returning user, but as a new user.

New Cookie Option

The Facebook cookie is also affected by this third-party cookie policy and will be deleted after one day unless the user revisits the website before. "So far, Facebook has used its pixel - which works with third-party cookies - for website analysis, ad targeting, and ad measurement. This new option will allow advertisers, publishers and developers to continue to accurately analyze traffic to their sites," the social networking declares in its announcement.

From 24 October, however, advertisers will be able to use their own cookie with the Facebook pixel. This means that it is no longer a third-party cookie and is not automatically deleted after 24 hours. The traffic can thus be analyzed again precisely.

Facebook offers the first-party cookie variant as an additional variant. In the Business Manager, companies can set which type of cookie they want to use. As a standard option, the use of first- and third-party cookies is preset. Facebook provides instructions on how to set the cookie option.

Whichever option you choose, the network expressly points out that website operators must continue to inform users about what cookies are used for and which data is processed, accourding to the GDPR. The type of cookie, i.e. whether first or third party, is irrelevant.