Google FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts)

2021

Google is testing a new technology designed to "kill" third-party cookies

Google has released a trial version of its new technology Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) for developers, which may in the future replace third-party cookies. Unlike cookies that track the browsing history of each individual user, to generate relevant advertising, FLoC collects data based on the behavior of user groups (so-called cohorts)^[1].

"With FLoC, your browser determines which cohort best matches your recent browsing history and adds you to a group of thousands of other people with the same browsing history. Only the cohort identification number is provided to the site request. This approach differs from third-party cookies, which allow the company to monitor you individually on each site, "explained Marshall Vale, Google's private sandbox product director.

The trial version is available so far only to a small number of users in Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, the USA and the Philippines.

FLoC is part of Google's plan to eliminate third-party cookies in the Chrome browser and stop selling ads based on individual user activity on the Internet. Advertising sales are the basis of the Google empire, as well as the subject of a number of accusations of violations of antitrust laws.

Announcement of Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) - cookie replacement technologies

At the end of January 2021, Google spoke about the technology developed by the company Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC), which, in her opinion, can replace cookies. According to tests, FLoC provides higher advertising efficiency, say developers.

FLoC is an API implemented as an extension for the Google Chrome browser. The technology is based on machine learning algorithms for analyzing user data, and then unites users into groups of thousands of people based on the preferences of each individual participant. At the same time, according to Google, data collected locally from the browser is not transmitted to anyone. These large groups are used to target ads.

Google has developed a cookie replacement with 95% advertising efficiency

Testing of FLoC was carried out in the sandbox - a special environment for developers of the company, which Google announced in 2019 to begin searching and creating a replacement cookie. The company showed announcements to apparently several focus groups to assess their effectiveness. As a result, Google was able to find out that compared to ads that were shown through cookie analysis, the effectiveness of ads selected using FLoC increased to 95% by 1 dollar spent.

The specific result depends on the efficiency of the clustering algorithm and the type of target audience. Individual users at the same time "dissolve in the crowd," which ensures the protection of their personal data.

By the end of January 2021, companies continue to collect cookies, because without them it is impossible to set up targeting, and there is no global replacement yet, writes Axios. Some companies began to use their own data or data that the user voluntarily transmitted to them, but this scheme is not available to everyone, the publication notes.^[2]

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