Brave’s doing it. Vivaldi’s doing. Mozilla’s doing it. Even DuckDuckGo is doing it. But where does Microsoft land when it comes to blocking Google’s controversial FLoC technology for tracking users?

It’s not clear.

“We believe in a future where the web can provide people with privacy, transparency[,] and control while also supporting responsible business models to create a vibrant, open[,] and diverse ecosystem,” Microsoft told The Verge when asked if it would block FLoC. “Like Google, we support solutions that give users clear consent, and do not bypass consumer choice. That’s also why we do not support solutions that leverage non-consented user identity signals, such as fingerprinting. The industry is on a journey and there will be browser-based proposals that do not need individual user ids and ID-based proposals that are based on consent and first party relationships. We will continue to explore these approaches with the community. Recently, for example, we were pleased to introduce one possible approach, as described in our PARAKEET proposal. This proposal is not the final iteration but is an evolving document.”

Yikes. That is all kinds of wishy-washy, especially given the number of words it required. We were looking for a yes or no, Microsoft. Or at least a “we’re still examining this” response.

This statement is a confused mess. And an unfortunate example of Microsoft’s inability to communicate effectively.