Chrome Again Exempts Google Sites From User Data Deletion Settings

Google Chrome is once again exempting its own domain from a key user privacy setting designed to wipe site data upon closing the browser. The discovery suggests a regression in the browser's privacy controls, allowing Google to maintain data persistence even when users have explicitly requested its removal.

Developer Jeff Johnson reported that despite having the "Delete data sites have saved to your device when you close all windows" setting active, site data for google.com persists across sessions. Testing conducted on Chrome version 152.0.7977.83 on macOS confirmed that the browser fails to purge Cookies, Local Storage, and Session Storage for the domain. To ensure the behavior was not tied to account synchronization or search preferences, Johnson reproduced the issue while signed out of any Chrome account and with the default search engine set to DuckDuckGo.

A Recurring Privacy Failure

This is not the first time Chrome has been caught sparing its parent company's domains from privacy purges. In 2020, Johnson published a similar report showing that Chrome ignored the "clear site data" command for Google-owned sites, including Google Search and YouTube. That original discovery gained significant traction, receiving coverage from major tech outlets including The Verge, Gizmodo, and The Register. While Google subsequently fixed the issue at the time, the current findings indicate that the same behavior has returned in 2026.

Implications for User Trust

This behavior undermines the reliability of user-facing privacy controls in the world's most widely used browser. By prioritizing its own data persistence over explicit user preferences, Google creates a double standard for how privacy settings are applied to third-party sites versus its own services. The recurrence of a previously patched bug also raises questions regarding the quality of Google's internal quality assurance for privacy-critical features.

"Google has no excuse for incompetence either, especially given the amount of money made by the company," Johnson stated, adding that the company could avoid negative publicity by improving its QA processes.

What's Next

It remains to be seen if this is a widespread regression across all platforms or a specific bug tied to the macOS build. While Johnson's testing focused on google.com, it is unclear if other Google-owned properties are also receiving similar exemptions. Users are encouraged to monitor their site data settings, though the current evidence suggests that for Google's own domains, those settings may be effectively ignored.