Disabling Chrome’s Topics API¶

Chrome’s Topics API tracks browsing habits to show “relevant” ads. Rather than following a user across sites with cookies, it assigns interest categories (such as “Fitness” or “Travel”) based on the sites visited.

Turn Topics off¶

Open Chrome and enter chrome://settings/privacy in the address bar.

Scroll to “Ad privacy” (or search for it) and disable all three options:

• Ad Topics, which stops interest-based categorisation

• Site-suggested ads, which blocks sites from recommending ads

• Ad measurement, which prevents tracking of ad clicks

Google may still collect some data, but this reduces how much is used for ads.

Still tracked¶

Even with these off, Chrome still tracks the IP address, keeps browser fingerprinting active, and shares data with Google for “analytics”. For stronger privacy, consider switching to a privacy-focused browser.

Last reviewed: 2026-07-08.