Disable third-party cookies in Firefox to stop some types of tracking by advertisers

Third-party cookies are cookies that are set by a website other than the one you are currently on. For example, cnn.com might have a Facebook like button on their site. That like button will set a cookie that can be read by Facebook. That would be considered a third-party cookie.

Some advertisers use these types of cookies to track your visits to the various websites on which they advertise. If you are concerned about this, you can disable third-party cookies in Firefox.

Note: Disabling third-party cookies in Firefox can stop some types of tracking by advertisers, but not all. If you are concerned about tracking, see also How do I turn on the Do Not Track feature? and What happened to Tracking Protection?Content blocking.

Third-party cookie settings are available in the OptionsPreferences page's Privacy & Security panel:

  1. Click the menu button New Fx Menu Fx57Menu and choose Options.Preferences.
  2. Select the Privacy & Security panel and go to the Cookies and Site Data section.
    Fx60CookiesAndSiteDataThird-partyNever
  3. In the drop-down menu next to Accept third-party cookies and site data choose Never.
    Note: If after browsing with this setting, you realize you can't view properly some of your favorite websites, an intermediate solution is to set it to From visited. That will allow third-party cookies coming from previously visited websites.
  4. Close the about:preferences page. Any changes you've made will automatically be saved.

Disable third-party cookies

To block third-party trackers or all third-party cookies:

  1. Click the Firefox menu button fx57menu and select Content Blocking.
    • This takes you to the Content Blocking section of your Firefox OptionsPreferences Privacy & Security panel.
    Fx63menuContentBlocking
  2. Select the Third-Party Cookies checkbox to block third-party tracking cookies. To block all third-party cookies, change the setting from Trackers (recommended) to All third-party cookies (may cause websites to break).
Note: If the checkbox is already selected and you see the message Your settings in Cookies and Site Data are preventing changes to Third-Party Cookies settings, click Change Cookie Settings.
Fx63ChangeCookieSettings
This takes you to the Cookies and Site Data section of Firefox OptionsPreferences, where you can change the type of cookies blocked.
Fx63settings-BlockCookies
  1. Click the Firefox menu button fx57menu and select Content Blocking.
    • This takes you to the Content Blocking section of your Firefox OptionsPreferences Privacy & Security panel.
    Fx65ContentBlocking
  2. Select Custom to choose what to block.
  3. Check mark Cookies. Third-party trackers is the default setting.
    Fx65Custom-ThirdPartyCookies
    • To block all third-party cookies, select All third-party cookies (may cause websites to break) from the drop-down menu.
  4. Close the about:preferences page. Any changes you've made will automatically be saved.

Enable third-party cookies for specific sites

Some websites may not work properly when third-party cookies are blocked, even with the Trackers (recommended)Third-party trackers setting. To enable third-party cookies for specific websites, click the Control Center button Site Info button in the address bar and click Disable Blocking for This SiteTurn off Blocking for This Site.

Fx63ControlCenter-ThirdPartyCookiesBlocked Fx65ControlCenter-Third-partyTrackersBlocked

For more information, see Turn Content Blocking off on individual sites.

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