“It is still possible that websites calling the API may combine or correlate topics with other signals to infer sensitive information, outside of intended use,” Google’s description of Topics says. What’s more, the risk of websites working out someone’s sensitive personal traits isn’t completely eradicated by Topics. But, realistically, it’s unlikely many people will change Chrome’s settings in this way. Google says people will be given more control over the interest areas that are assigned to them and can change settings, block topics, and opt out in Chrome. FLoC was criticized for potentially being able to generate or infer sensitive attributes through people’s behavior and interests. Onlookers aren’t so sure.Īnother potential difference between FLoC and Topics is that Google claims the latter will attempt to avoid assigning “sensitive categories” to people-such as allowing individuals to be shown ads based on their race or gender. After failing with FLoC, the company is now presenting Topics as a different plan for the future of online advertising. Chrome hogs 63 percent of the global browser market-meaning Google is likely to set a standard that others might be forced to follow. But what Google does will have by far the biggest impact. Apple’s Safari started doing so back in 2017. Safari, Firefox, and Brave have all restricted them for years. When it comes to limiting third-party cookies, Google is way behind its rivals. In the third quarter of 2021 alone, the search giant made $53 billion from advertising-but the online world in which Google operates is changing.
And even the ad tech industry isn’t happy, with rivals arguing that Google is attempting to reshape online advertising in its image. But many privacy experts have argued that it’s impact will be limited. On the face of it, it's a move to improve user privacy. Topics is just one element of Google’s wider Privacy Sandbox plan to bring about the end of third-party cookies in Chrome.
This week the company announced it was scrapping Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC), a key part of its plan, and replacing it with a new system called Topics. Well, now it’s January 2022 and Google is back with another plan. Back in January 2020 the company announced it would overhaul Chrome by removing cookies that follow people around the web within two years. Google’s plan to remove third-party cookies from Chrome hasn’t gone smoothly.
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