Google plans to restrict the use of third-party cookies in its Chrome internet browser, a move it says is aimed at bolstering users’ privacy while they visit websites.

The Alphabet Inc. unit has been signaling for months that it had interest in adding more controls on the small data files that help website operators, and potentially other entities including advertisers, gain information about visitors. But it has stopped short of actions taken by Apple Inc.’s Safari and Mozilla Corp.’s Firefox to roll out broader restrictions on tracking cookies.

As Google takes the step, publishers and advertisers argue the changes will make the tech giant’s own ad business even stronger as the company will still be able to use data culled from its own internet-search and other properties to target ads to users. Separately, a group of state attorneys general and the Justice Department are probing whether Google, which hauled in $97.24 billion in revenue through three quarters of 2019, engaged in anticompetitive behavior as it grew to become a dominant presence in the U.S. ad business.

Google said Tuesday that it would phase out support for third-party cookies in its browser within the next two years, according to a blog post by Justin Schuh, director of Chrome engineering. Third-party cookies, which can be used by ad-tracking or analytics services, are designed to follow users across the internet to learn their browsing habits. Those insights can be valuable to advertisers but have generated consumer privacy concerns for years.

“First-party” cookies, for example, can be directly collected by a website through some form of consent or direct relationship with a user. These types of cookies can be used for purposes such as saving login information, allowing a user to avoid re-entering a password at each visit.