DuckDuckGo Announces Plans to Block Google’s FLoC

As Google transitions away from using third-party cookies in Chrome, its developing a new technology called FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts). Google claims FLoC offers more privacy than third-party cookies because it monitors activity at a group level rather than an individual level.

With FLoC, browsing activity cannot be tied to any individual user. Though it does aim to collect enough data to serve personalized ads.

Privacy pundits like DuckDuckGo take issue with all forms of tracking, even when it’s less invasive. DuckDuckGo finds it especially concerning that getting tracked via FLoC is not optional – all Chrome users are automatically opted into it.

DuckDuckGo is updating its Chrome browser extension with the ability to block FLoC interactions on websites.

DuckDuckGo is also bringing its FLoC-blocking feature to search results in an update that’s live now. Users on all devices and all browsers will be opted out of FLoC when they use the DuckDuckGo search engine.