What is the _cc_id cookie?
This cookie is a persistent unique identifier used by Lotame to track users across multiple websites and devices to build comprehensive profiles for targeted advertising.
Table of Contents
About _cc_id
| Vendor | Lotame |
|---|---|
| Cookie Domain | crwdcntrl.net |
| Category Category The functional category of the technology, such as Web Analytics or Social Media. Learn more | Data Management (DMP) |
| Consent Category Consent Category The consent category this cookie most commonly falls under across sites we scan, normalized into four standard categories. Learn more | Targeting & Advertising |
| Prevalence | Very Common |
| Popularity Popularity Popularity is calculated from our dataset of 4.5B+ cookies analyzed across hundreds of millions of web pages. Learn more | Found on 13.2% of scanned pages |
| Expiration Type | Timestamp |
| Expiration Duration | 25 days |
| Party Type Party Type Whether the cookie is first-party or third-party. Learn more | 3rd-Party |
| Risk Level Risk Level Rates how sensitive the data stored by this cookie is (High, Medium, or Low) based on data classification and distribution. Learn more | High |
| Vendor Privacy Policy | https://www.lotame.com/privacy/services-privacy-notice/ |
| Vendor Website | https://www.lotame.com/ |
What is the purpose of _cc_id?
The _cc_id cookie is set by Lotame (acquired by Publicis Groupe in 2025 and positioned within its Epsilon unit; Lotame became a division of Epsilon Data Management, LLC effective October 2025), a Data Management Platform (DMP), to serve as a persistent unique user identifier (also known as the Lotame PID). Its primary technical function is to recognize a user's browser across multiple domains and track their interactions, website visits, and content preferences. This pseudonymous data is collected via Lotame's pixel tags and Lightning Tag implementation, which communicate with the crwdcntrl.net tracking domain.
Lotame aggregates the behavioral data tied to this identifier to create unified identity graphs and audience segments (often combined with the Lotame Panorama ID for cross-device resolution). The resulting profiles are shared with advertisers, supply-side platforms (SSPs), and demand-side platforms (DSPs) to enable behaviorally targeted advertising, content personalization, and cross-site user tracking.
What are the Privacy Risks of _cc_id?
Risk Level: High
The _cc_id cookie is a third-party tracking identifier explicitly designed for cross-site user profiling and audience segmentation. It collects extensive behavioral data - such as browsing history, search history, and interactions across multiple digital properties - to build highly detailed, persistent profiles that are shared with or sold to various advertising partners. This constitutes a high privacy risk as it actively enables targeted advertising, data brokering, and cross-contextual behavioral tracking without being strictly necessary for basic website functionality.
How to Remove _cc_id from a Website
To remove the _cc_id cookie from a website, administrators must locate and remove any Lotame integration scripts, such as the Lotame Lightning Tag (lt.min.js), Lotame static pixel tags, or ad server integrations that push audiences to Lotame. Since this cookie is set dynamically by network requests to crwdcntrl.net (e.g., bcp.crwdcntrl.net or sync.crwdcntrl.net), removing the primary data management platform integration will stop the cookie from being dropped. If the technology is deployed via a tag manager (like Google Tag Manager), the corresponding Lotame tags must be paused or deleted. Alternatively, if Lotame's audience tracking is an optional feature embedded within another ad tech platform (such as a programmatic supply-side platform), disabling the audience sharing feature within that platform's settings may prevent the cookie from firing.