Google’s critical Privacy Sandbox initiative has begun its first round of testing, as the company announced today. New measurement proposals, including Topics, FLEDGE, and Attribution Reporting, will be available for testing in this round of the Privacy Sandbox. FLoC, the ill-fated advertising initiative that was axed in January, has been replaced by these new ad platforms.
How does this technology work?
- This experiment, called FLEDGE (First Locally Executed Decision over Groups), uses the browser to calculate ad auction data rather than sending it to a server, helping to keep user information private.
- Topics is a technology that aids in the identification of user interests for advertising while ensuring greater privacy for the user..
- Measurement of ad clicks and views can be improved by using attribution reporting.
They are designed to help reduce the amount of personal data that is used while maintaining accuracy in reporting.
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Origin testing. Developers can try out new features for a limited period of time before the general public using the origin trials, which were first announced in 2020. Typically, these trials are conducted on a first-party basis and at one “origin”. Now that Chrome Canary has been released, developers can see and test the code for topics, fledglings, and attribution reporting.
A limited Chrome beta will be released after this iteration is released, followed by a stable version of Chrome. The privacy sandbox technologies referred to above have been tested in countries around the world.
There is information on Google’s developer guidance page here if you’re interested in API access.
Controls for the user. Today’s announcement includes new settings that make it easier for participants to understand and control their information consumption. Users will be able to control which trials they want to participate in and even turn them off completely.
Reasons why we should care. New privacy technologies were only theoretical until today. Seeing Google’s (well-needed) new ad technology come to fruition in this next phase is a joy. There will be a lot of information and feedback that can help marketers prepare for what is to come with Google’s new initiative.