Thousands of browsers with identical browsing history (belonging to the same 'cohort') stored locally will have a shared 'cohort' identifier assigned, which will be shared with a site when requested. That is, every Google Chrome web browser instance selected as a part of FLoC trial would be lumped with specific 'cohorts' or groups that most closely represent their recent web browsing activity.

The announcement comes out shortly after Google unveiled its plans to trial the technology with a selected group of Chrome users, who will automatically be included in FLoC's pilot.įLoC aims to replace tracking technologies like third-party cookies and localStorage with what is being called 'cohorts.'Īs opposed to servers (or ad networks) tracking users across the world wide web and recording their browsing history, FLoC hands off this responsibility to the user's individual web browser. This week, makers of Vivaldi web browser have declared that they will not include Google FLoC support in Vivaldi. Google FLoC replaces cookie-based tracking with 'cohorts'

However, Google's proposal to replace third-party tracking cookies with FLoC has not been welcomed by everyone.įLoC has been criticized by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and outright rejected by makers of Vivaldi and Brave browsers for its debatable claim of being a privacy-preserving technology. The technology is meant to replace the more traditional third-party cookies used by ad networks and analytics platforms to track users across the web, which can be detrimental to preserving user privacy. Last month, Google announced plans to roll out a new privacy-focused feature called Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) for the Chrome browser and ad serving websites.

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