Chrome begins sharing user interest data with third-party sites

In Chrome gradually started to implement The Topics API is a new targeted ad tool that helps websites target ads based on a user's interests.

The Topics API began to be distributed with the release of Chrome 115 in July, and by September it was already available to many users - although not all. If you missed a notification with suggestions for setting up a feature, then it turned on automatically for you. This is expressed in three parameters:

• Sites can ask Chrome for topics you've been interested in over the past month to personalize ads.
• Sites themselves may recommend Chrome topics that a user was interested in while browsing so that other sites can offer ads on those topics.
• The browser may share non-personal data about you so that the site can measure the effectiveness of advertising.

If you do not want third-party sites to receive information about your interests, you can disable targeted advertising by topic. To do this, just go to the Chrome settings section “Privacy and security” → “Privacy in advertising”. You can also paste chrome://settings/adPrivacy into the search bar for a quick jump.

Here we are interested in two parameters: “Advertising topics” and “Advertising offered by sites”. Click on them and move the switch at the top to an inactive application. At the same time, you can also turn off Ad Effectiveness Estimates to make life a little more difficult for marketers. If you're happy with the idea of ​​targeted ads but don't want to see suggestions for specific topics, you can turn them off or add them to the "Blocked" section.