In January 2021, Google announced its plans to start testing its new interest-based advertising standard called Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC). It’s being said that FLoC will ultimately replace the third-party cookies that most websites on the internet currently use. But is it just that, or is there more to FLoC? In this article, we go over what is Google’s FLoC and why the company is developing this new technology. Apart from that, we also discuss the cons of FLoC and how you can block FLoC on Chrome in just a few steps. So without wasting any time, let’s jump right in.

Here, we have explained everything about Google’s FLoC in lucid terms. You can click on the table below and move to the corresponding section with ease.

  • What is Google’s FLoC?
  • Why is Google Replacing Third-party Cookies with FLoC?
  • What are the Issues with FLoC?
  • When is FLoC Rolling Out to Users?
  • Check If Google Is Tracking You With FLoC
  • How to Block FLoC on Google Chrome?

What is Google’s FLoC?

FLoC or Federated Learning of Cohorts is a new web standard developed by Google, and it aims to protect user privacy by replacing third-party cookies. In 2019, Google announced that it’s building a more private web, and FLoC is a result of that effort. Coming to how it works, well, based on your last week’s browsing history, Chrome learns about your interests and behavior across the web. Then, using this data, Google will put you in a “cohort” or a group of individuals having similar interests.

Before anything, we must understand why Google stepped in and actively took charge to create an alternative to third-party cookies. Over the past few years, there has been a change in the narrative around user privacy on the web. And well, the tide is turning against Google. The central point in this discourse has been third-party cookies and how they enable websites to show deeply personalized and accurate ads. In 2020, Apple announced that Safari is going to block all third-party cookies by default. Firefox has been blocking third-party cookies by default since 2019.

Now, the emergence of privacy-focused browsers like DuckDuckGo, Brave, and Tor is a tell-tale sign of the new direction users are taking to protect their privacy. Not to forget, even the new Chromium Edge has also started blocking some third-party cookies by default. It’s clear the war is on third-party cookies, and other browser vendors are in no mood to allow these cross-site trackers.

  • Choice of Ad Tracking System

The fundamental issue with FLoC is that users have to choose between “old tracking” and “new tracking”, as per Bennett Cyphers of EFF. If you are serious about protecting privacy, then it should not come at the cost of choosing between an old and a new system. Instead, your focus should primarily be on abolishing the whole surveillance tech. Critics have repeatedly said that allowing third-party cookies was the web’s biggest mistake. And now, letting it run under a different set of protocols is as harmful as the old standard.

Choice of Ad Tracking System

  • Fingerprinting

If you are unaware, third-party cookies enable fingerprinting that allows websites to track individual users across the web. Websites can find your identity on the internet in milliseconds, just by seeing how your browser reacts to a script. That’s why we recommend disabling third-party cookies on Chrome. There are several such data points that can help websites pinpoint your exact identity. That’s one of the key reasons why Facebook, YouTube, and other websites have become so good at targeted advertising.

Fingerprinting

When is FLoC Rolling Out to Users?

From March 2021, Google started running an “Origin” trial with FLoC, and the test is currently underway for Chrome users around the world. The selected regions are Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, and the United States. The test is limited to only 0.5% of the user base and is supposed to end in April. And then, this tracking technology will make its way to Canary, Developer, and Beta builds. It will finally reach the Google Chrome stable build in the coming months.

DuckDuckGo is not wasting any time and has already made changes to its Privacy Essentials extension to block FLoC on Chrome. Click here and install the Chrome extension on your browser and, FLoC will be disabled. Note that the extension must be on version 2021.4.8 or above to have the recent changes.