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| Abbreviation | FLoC |
|---|---|
| Status | Replaced by Browsing Topics API |
| Year started | 2019 |
| Organization | |
| Series | Privacy Sandbox |
| Website | privacysandbox |
Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) is a type of web tracking. It groups people into "cohorts" based on their browsing history for the purpose of interest-based advertising.[1][2] FLoC was being developed as a part of Google's Privacy Sandbox initiative,[3] which includes several other advertising-related technologies with bird-themed names.[1][4]: 48 Despite "federated learning" in the name, FLoC does not utilize any federated learning.[5]
Google began testing the technology in Chrome 89[6] released in March 2021 as a replacement for third-party cookies. By April 2021, every major browser aside from Google Chrome that is based on Google's open-source Chromium platform had declined to implement FLoC. The technology was criticized on privacy grounds by groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and DuckDuckGo, and has been described as anti-competitive; it generated an antitrust response in multiple countries as well as questions about General Data Protection Regulation compliance. In July 2021, Google quietly suspended development of FLoC;[7] Chrome 93,[8] released on August 31, 2021, became the first version which disabled FLoC, but did not remove the internal programming.[9]
On January 25, 2022, Google officially announced it had ended development of FLoC technologies and proposed the new Topics API to replace it.[10][11] Brave developers criticized Topics API as a rebranding of FLoC with only minor changes and without addressing their main concerns.[12]
- ^ a b Bohn, Dieter (March 30, 2021). "Privacy and ads in Chrome are about to become FLoCing complicated". The Verge. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
- ^ Burgess, Matt (March 24, 2021). "Google's rivals are fighting back against Chrome's big cookie plan". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
- ^ Lomas, Natasha (March 24, 2021). "Google isn't testing FLoCs in Europe yet". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
- ^ Geradin, Damien; Katsifis, Dimitrios; Karanikioti, Theano (November 25, 2020). "Google as a de facto Privacy Regulator: Analyzing Chrome's Removal of Third-party Cookies from an Antitrust Perspective". Tilburg Law and Economics Center (DP2020-038). Rochester, NY. doi:10.2139/ssrn.3738107. ISSN 1572-4042. S2CID 234583355. SSRN 3738107.
- ^ "The Topics API - Evolution from FLoC". patcg-individual-drafts. GitHub. March 24, 2022. Archived from the original on January 25, 2022.
FLoC didn't actually use Federated learning
- ^ "Federated Learning of Cohorts". Chrome Platform Status. January 26, 2021. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
- ^ Karlin, Josh. "The Topics API - Evolution from FLoC". patcg-individual-drafts. GitHub. Retrieved January 26, 2022.
FLoC ended its experiment in July of 2021.
- ^ Xiao, Yao (July 26, 2021). "[floc] Disable floc computation. Remove fieldtrial testing config. · chromium/chromium@5d059e4". GitHub. Archived from the original on October 31, 2023. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
- ^ "Issue 1230149: Disable floc computation". bugs.chromium.org. August 26, 2021. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
- ^ Roth, Emma (January 25, 2022). "Google abandons FLoC, introduces Topics API to replace tracking cookies". The Verge. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
- ^ Li, Abner (January 25, 2022). "Google drops FLoC and proposes new Topics API for replacing third-party cookies used by ads". 9to5Google. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
- ^ Snyder, Peter (January 25, 2022). "Rebranding FLoC Without Addressing Key Privacy Issues". Brave. Archived from the original on July 2, 2024. Retrieved July 2, 2024.