Comply with the EU user consent policy

This article describes Google's EU user consent policy for publishers, outlining requirements for obtaining user consent for data collection and ad personalization in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland. It also provides guidance on ad serving options, including personalized and non-personalized ads, and how to select and declare ad technology providers.

On this page:

• Get started
• Select ad technology providers (for personalized ads)
• Declare ad technology providers for reservation creatives
• Set up consent gathering
• Additional considerations

Under Google’s updated EU user consent policy, you must make certain disclosures to your users in the European Economic Area (EEA), the UK, and Switzerland and obtain their consent for the use of cookies or other local storage where legally required, and for the collection, sharing, and use of personal data for ads personalization. This policy reflects the requirements of the EU ePrivacy Directive and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

To support publishers in meeting their duties under this policy, Google offers the ad serving options described below for users in the EEA, the UK, and Switzerland. If you don’t make any changes, the commonly used set of ad technology providers (ATPs) will continue to be used.

Get started

1. Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
2. Click Privacy & messaging.
3. Click  on the European regulations message type card.
4. On the European regulations settings page, update the settings for the sections on this page as described below.
    
   Not all users have access to this area

   Only the built-in Administrator user role has edit permissions by default. For a custom user role to see this page, you need to update the permissions to include the View privacy & messaging or Edit privacy & messaging permissions.

Select ad technology providers (for personalized ads)

To help with compliance under Google’s updated EU user consent policy, you have the option to select your preferred ad technology providers (ATPs) from a list of companies that have provided us with information about their compliance with the GDPR—all of whom also have to comply with our data usage policy to ensure publisher data is protected.

If you select these ad technology providers (including Google and other bidders and vendors), they may use data about your users for the purposes of ads personalization and measurement.

1. Choose a commonly used set of ad technology providers or create a custom set:
   • Commonly used set of ad technology providers: This is the setting that will be used unless you make a change on this page.
   • Custom set of ad technology providers: Select your preferred ad technology providers.
2. Clearly identify the providers you select to your users, and obtain users' consent in line with Google's EU user consent policy. You could do this by listing your chosen ad technology providers in a consent flow, or listing your chosen providers on a separate page of your site to which you direct your users from a consent flow. In either case, to comply with Google's EU user consent policy, you should link to the details provided by each provider that describes their activities. 

Declare ad technology providers for reservation creatives

Declare ad technology providers that you work with on reservation creatives. Reservation creatives are associated with non-programmatic line items, including guaranteed (Sponsorship and Standard) and non-guaranteed (Network, Bulk, Price Priority, and House).

Google will check for consent for any ad technology providers that you declare when determining whether reservation creatives are eligible to serve.

Learn more about declaring ad technology providers for creatives in Ad Manager reservation campaigns

Set up consent gathering

You can create your own consent dialog that displays a message on your sites or apps asking your users in the EEA, the UK, and Switzerland for consent.

Consent for apps

See the Google Developers guide (Android, iOS) to learn how to use Google’s consent dialog or create your own consent dialog.

After updating your app code, you’ll re-upload your app to the Google Play or App Store. You may need your network ID.

Consent for the web

Learn more about passing consent signals to Google Ad Manager.

Additional considerations

Privacy Sandbox API

Google advertising services are experimenting with new ways of supporting the delivery and measurement of digital advertising in ways that better protect people’s privacy online via the Privacy Sandbox initiative on Chrome and Android. Users with the relevant Privacy Sandbox settings enabled in Chrome or Android may see relevant ads from Google advertising services based on Topics or Protected Audience data stored on their browser or mobile device. Google advertising services may also measure ad performance using Attribution Reporting data stored on their browser or mobile device. The EU user consent policy requires you to obtain valid user consent for these actions in the same way as you rely on consent today for ads personalization and the use of non-essential local storage in the European Economic Area and the UK.