An Internet Free of Ad Cookies Is Now Closer Than Ever

Fractal Protocol offers a better experience for users and a fairer market for content creators

When you visit a website you will these days have to give consent for cookies, which are used to identify users as a returning visitor, analysing their use of any specific website, giving them access to third-party services and building a profile of their particular interests in order to show them relevant adverts on other websites.

Cookies cannot be processed if the user doesn’t consent for them and users can withdraw their consent and cancel the processing of cookies by removing them from their device, but most popular web browsers are set to allow the storage of cookies. Whilst the cookies by themselves can’t research user information, they do store personal information that is input into websites’ order forms, registration pages, payment pages and more.

The good, the bad, and the invasive

Having played a role in our browsing experiences for over 25 years, cookies collect and share both personal and browsing data of web users and, as the duopoly of Google and Facebook has grown, third-party cookies, in particular, have meant that security vulnerabilities have become more prevalent. On any one website a user could be exposed several times to potentially malicious cookies that collect their personal information without their knowing and with the eyes of the world locked more onto the screens of their devices than ever before, this is more of a concern than ever before for anyone that values their privacy.

But at the same time, online advertising remains to be one of if not the most effective ways for brands and businesses to reach their target audience, and third-party cookies have been a major way for these businesses to continue reaching pertinent consumers. Accurate, cost-effective targeting of potential consumers browsing the web is what is keeping many businesses around the world profitable in an uncertain economic climate, but with Google announcing that it plans to get rid of third party cookies entirely by 2022, e-commerce and web-based businesses that have previously relied on the siloed data of one the internet’s biggest giants are going to lose a powerful tool for data collection.

With both Firefox and Safari, the world’s two major web browsers, also announcing that their software would block third-party cookies by default, this spells a troubling time for the majority of publishers, content creators and digital marketers that have been forced to rely on Facebook and Google’s behemoth datasets. What’s even more is that although third-party cookies may be gone by next year, the Universal IDs that are being introduced as first-party counterparts will most likely still result in privacy issues for end-users.

A better way

So what is the solution? As content creators and digital marketers decide on how to approach the impending data drought, Fractal Protocol has emerged with a solution that looks to benefit all parties involved. Fractal Protocol looks to replace the ad cookie and give users back control over their data by creating data commons that will enable fair competition against the currency ad market duopoly.

Built as an open-source zero-margin protocol, Fractal Protocol defines a basic standard for exchanging data in a fair and open way, with an incentive system for the sale and purchase of ad inventory built on a transparent and trustless infrastructure. With the introduction of an ecosystem that rewards users for sharing and verifying their data, Fractal Protocol also democratizes the access and availability of data for both publishers and advertisers, giving them tools and methods to leverage valuable and verified user data.

“We believe that content creators should get paid for what they do and users should have self-sovereignty over their own data; simply because the infrastructure is open, free, and accessible.” – Julian Leitloff, Co-Founder & CEO Fractal Protocol

Having raised over $2m in a private round led by a variety of reputable blockchain, ad market and venture capital funds, the project this week announced its plans to launch a public investment round on the popular decentralized fundraising platform Polkastarter on Thursday, 25th February 2021.

Evolving privacy legislation and platform changes by the duopoly of Google, Facebook and also Apple means that very soon there will be less data available not only to brands but to the entire online advertising ecosystem – Fractal Protocol marks an exciting change in the way data can be collected, shared and earned without compromising the privacy of the end-user.

Image by Bernadette Wurzinger from Pixabay