In the era of privacy concerns and crackdowns, Google says it might be moving closer to finding the alternative to Internet cookies.

The tech giant is testing a software interface in its Chrome browser to act as a replacement for third-party cookies, which are Internet ad tracking tools that have come under scrutiny for recording user data.

"The way we see it is that there is a lot of technical innovation at the heart of this, and what we've been focusing on is not blocking 3rd-party cookies right away," Google's head of user trust and privacy for advertising Chetna Bindra told Axios on Monday. "We are intent on engaging the entire advertising community and really leaning into the kind of collaboration that's critical to make such massive change."

Replacing cookie-based ad targeting online is difficult amid sweeping privacy protection reform, because it is a lucrative revenue stream for Internet companies seeking to draw in big advertising dollars.

The industry has been built on cookies, but Google has been testing an application programming interface (API) in its Chrome browser that replaces the cookie technology called Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC), per Axios.

In testing, FLoC has given advertisers "at least 95% of the conversions per dollar" compared to cookie-based ads, Google told Axios on Monday.

"FLoC uses machine learning algorithms to analyze user data and then create a group of thousands of people based off of the sites that an individual visits," Axios reported. "The data gathered locally from the browser is never shared. Instead, the data from the much wider cohort of thousands of people is shared, and that is then used to target ads."

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