Google to Stop Selling Ads Based on a Person's Web Browsing
Google to Stop Selling Ads Based on a Person's Web Browsing
https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-to-stop-selling-ads-based-on-your-specific-web-browsing-11614780021
It is a very interesting (and correct) move by Google. "Behavioral targeting" was based on the flawed premise that the users' behavior (which sites they visited) could help better target ads. But sadly all that data is derived and not accurate at all. They couldn't even get gender correct (only 42% accuracy); so many ad tech companies just labeled every cookie as BOTH male and female so they could sell it to any gullible advertiser who was paying extra for targeting parameters.
So I am glad they are doing away with it... it will mean LESS privacy invasive data collection (on an individual level).
But note that their proposed alternative, called FLoC (federated learning of cohorts) is not any better and not any more private. They still use black box algos to sort users into cohorts for ad targeting purposes; they still track details about users’ website visitation patterns. The only difference is that instead of individual cookies in individual browsers, users are grouped into FLoCs to be targeted.
More insights from other privacy researchers and engineers.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/augustinefou/2021/04/13/googles-moves-are-a-floc-you-to-privacy
Agreed, it is a step in the right direction. In my experience, third party data (especially the derived sort) is often worthless when tested A/B. First party data (your own data!) is priceless, but third party data is often spurious, even after a quick look. I had a client who requested to use "Bentley Owners in the US" as a third party data select that was available. If I remember correctly, the count was several hundred thousand. According to Wikipedia, the number of Bentleys delivered to the US since 1998 was less than 25,000. So, that number was hardly believable. Of course, we bought it anyway and it performed...not at all. I have a screenshot someplace of Facebook's Ads Manager (circa 2015) showing audiences in England that were greater than the population of England. You get the picture. Scrutinize closely, any third party data you are considering for inclusion in a campaign.