Google LLC is kicking off public tests of FLoC, a machine learning technology intended to provide a more privacy-friendly alternative to the third-party cookies used by online advertisers. 

The technology, which stands for Federated Learning of Cohorts, is rolling out as a Chrome update to a small subset of the browser’s users, the search giant announced on Tuesday. Google is initially limiting the trial to users in 10 countries.

Third-party cookies are small files that online advertisers use to track consumers’ online activity and deliver personalized ads tailored to their interests. In recent years, an industry push has emerged to replace the technology with other tracking methods that give advertisers less access to user data. The vision is to find an approach that protects consumer privacy but still enables brands to show relevant promotions to their audiences.

FLoC is Google’s attempt to realize that vision. The technology improves privacy by reducing the level of granularity with which advertisers can monitor users’ online browsing habits, according to Google.

Traditional third-party cookies, the technology FLoC is intended to replace, function as a unique identifier that follows the user across multiple websites. FLoC also relies on unique identifiers, only it assigns them not to individual users but rather groups of users with similar interests. This effectively hides individuals “in the crowd,” Chetna Bindra, Google’s group product manager for user trust and privacy, explained earlier this year.

FLoC is delivered in the form of an additional software component installed onto the user’s browser. Built-in machine learning models glean a user’s interests and, based on that inferred information, add them to a large group of consumers who are interested in the same topics. Google refers to these groups as cohorts. 

Because the machine learning models that carry out the processing run in Chrome, data on the user’s online activity never leave their device. Advertisers, meanwhile, can still personalize ads by customizing them based on the interests of cohorts rather than individuals. 

Google is initially rolling out FLoC to a small percentage of Chrome users in Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines and the U.S. Users who have enabled the browser’s setting to block third-party cookies aren’t included in the test. As an added measure, Google plans to introduce an additional setting that will allow consumers to specifically opt out from trials of FloC and other technologies developed as part of the Privacy Sandbox project.

The rollout is significant for the online advertising ecosystem because Google is one of the industry’s leading players. Moreover, FLoC also represents a major departure from traditional third-party cookies at the technical level. As a result, the technology has drawn the attention of regulators and Google competitors alike. 

Not everyone thinks FLoC is all that privacy-friendly. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, for instance, has said it’s a terrible idea because it still involves tracking people and “may also exacerbate many of the worst non-privacy problems with behavioral ads, including discrimination and predatory targeting.” Moreover, it said, “Google’s launch of this trial — without notice to the individuals who will be part of the test, much less their consent — is a concrete breach of user trust in service of a technology that should not exist.”

The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority recently launched a probe into FLoC to examine whether the technology might harm Google competitors, such as smaller online advertising providers. In another development, several of those smaller providers today announced that they’re teaming up to develop their own third-party cookie alternative with the goal of boosting online privacy. 

Image: Google