Microsoft Edge, Safari, Firefox do not yet have plans for FLoC
After Google started rolling out FLoC for some Chrome users as a replacement for third-party cookies, the technology became rather controversial. Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox have confirmed that they have no plans to adopt FLoC immediately.
Google is positioning FLoC, or Federated Learning of Cohorts, as a new standard for the Web. It’s an idea that privacy-focused companies such as Brave, Vivaldi, and DuckDuckGo have openly discussed their opposition, calling FLoC “privacy invasive,” even when that’s exactly what the technology is trying. to avoid.
Either way, despite Google Chrome’s dominance in the desktop browser market, it can’t do it on its own. With Brave and Vivaldi off the table, what will happen with Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera? At the moment, it seems they have no plans to adopt the technology either.
Talk to The edge, the companies behind Edge, Firefox, and Opera said they currently have no plans to adopt FLoC. Microsoft said:
We believe in a future where the web can offer people privacy, transparency and control while supporting responsible business models to create a vibrant, open and diverse ecosystem. Like Google, we support solutions that give users clear consent and don’t circumvent consumer choice. This is also the reason why we do not support solutions that exploit the identity signals of unauthorized users, such as fingerprints. The industry is on the move and there will be browser-based proposals that don’t need individual user IDs and ID-based proposals that are based on consent and first party relationships. We will continue to explore these approaches with the community. Recently, for example, we had the pleasure of presenting a possible approach, as described in our PARAKEET proposal. This proposal is not the final iteration but is a living document.
This is by no means a direct statement on what the future holds for FLoC and Microsoft Edge, but it doesn’t look like Microsoft is a big fan yet.
Additionally, Mozilla explained that it is evaluating “privacy-preserving ad proposals” for Firefox, including FLoC, but at this point the browser is not bringing the new technology to its users.
We are currently evaluating many privacy-preserving advertising proposals, including those put forward by Google, but currently have no plans to implement any of them at this time.
We do not accept the assumption that the industry needs billions of people data points, which are collected and shared without their knowledge, to serve relevant ads. This is why we have implemented by default enhanced tracking protection to block more than ten billion trackers per day, and continue to innovate on new ways to protect people who use Firefox.
Advertising and confidentiality can coexist. And the advertising industry may operate differently from previous years. We look forward to playing a role in finding solutions that build a better web.
Apple, on the other hand, has not released an official statement on its position regarding FLoC support in Safari. Apple WebKit engineer John Wilander recently addressed the controversy in a tweet and has since also touch other parts of the technology. From his tweet, it certainly looks like Apple has no plans to adopt FLoC anytime soon.
It’s possible that all three of these browsers – Edge, Safari, and Firefox – will adopt FLoC in time, but it’s unclear exactly what path Google’s initiative will see in the years to come.
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