FLEDGE

FLEDGE (First Locally Executed Decisions over Groups Experiment) is a method by which Google delivers ad content to Google Chrome users. Google developed the FLEDGE system in 2022, as part of its plan to do away with third-party cookies in Chrome.

Primarily, FLEDGE is meant to anonymize users' web activity but still allow companies to serve personalized ads. To do this, FLEDGE assigns a user to various interest groups based on their browsing activity. Then, when the user visits a website that shows ads, that site uses the user's interest group assignments, not any third-party cookies, to serve relevant ads. The ad is served using an in-browser process that prevents the ad creator and publisher from gathering user-specific information (such as the user's account info or the page on which they saw the ad).

FLEDGE is part of a larger initiative to increase user privacy in Chrome. Some related ad technologies, which also use bird-related acronyms, include:

• FLoC – Federated Learning of Cohorts
• TURTLEDOVE – Two Uncorrelated Requests, Then Locally-Executed Decision On Victory
• SPARROW – Secure Private Advertising Remotely Run On Webserver