, Google’s cohort federated learning technology intended to replace cookies with interest-based advertising has died before it even sees the light of day. Instead Google its new proposal: Topics.
Google says goodbye to Floc, its first attempt at an internet without cookies
Since last year Google has worked on one that allows to reinforce the privacy of users, However, it has not been easy for the Internet giant to find a technology capable of directing advertising while maintaining privacy, at least not one that allows the express consent of users.
As we remember, Floc was focused on (in the words of Google itself) “hide individuals in the crowd, and to achieve this goal it would process people’s information on their device itself, keeping their browsing history private.” Specifically, the idea was to generate groups of people (cohorts) with similar interests, so that companies can approach them with related content. In this way, users would see their privacy protected by not receiving an individual approach but a group approach from the businesses.
The initiative taken by the technology giant to end cookies in which FLoC is included, is called Privacy Sandbox, and more proposals by Google come into play in it. One of these is the creation and development of own audiences by marketers, without the use of third-party cookies. However, Google was faced with a serious problem: Floc’s technology is not compatible with the privacy policies in force in Europe.
This in conjunction with other problems has resulted in its dismissal, while Topics is presented as the new initiative of the internet giant, with a new approach.
This is Topics, the replacement for Floc
Google ensures that it has taken into account the lessons learned and the comments of the users in relation to Floc to develop topics, a new targeted advertising system within its Privacy Sandbox initiative.
just like google «With Topics, the browser defines a series of themes, such as «fitness» or «travel», which represent your main interests for that week based on your browsing history. Themes are kept for three weeks only and old themes are removed. This process is done entirely on your device, without the intervention of any external server, including Google servers. Thus, for example, if one week you enter a website with content related to health, Google will include “health” in your topics, so you will receive ads related to that category.
Thus, the idea is that your browser learns about your interests as you browse the web. Google assures that at first they will be analyzed 300 themes, but the intention is gradually increase the amountalso ensures that these issues will not include sensitive categories such as gender or race.
Google will classify the sites you visit based on one of these 300 themes or topics. For sites that have not been categorized, a machine learning algorithm will provide an estimated topic. That way, when you land on a site that supports the Topics API for advertising purposes, the browser will share three topics that interest you: one among the most relevant for each of the last three weeks. The site may then share this information with its advertising partners to decide which ads to show you.
Google assures that this would be a more private method to decide which ad to show, in addition to offering users “much greater control and transparency than the current standard”, since users will be able to choose the topics, edit them and even disable the Topics API in their browser.
“In the case of Chrome, we are developing controls that allow you to see what those topics are, remove any that you don’t really care about, and even turn off the functionality altogether”assures Google in .
Although Floc has died, Google insists on a future without cookies hand in hand with Topics, and although this project does not yet have the green light to reach users en masse, the internet giant promises that it will allow a “more genuine interaction with advertising content to be displayed on websites.”
The plan for now is to start testing the Topics API later this quarter, This will allow advertisers to have a clearer idea about which ads to show to certain users, since the topics are for now only a potential signal that can be combined with other contextual data about the user.
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