Google updates its data sharing policies for advertisers

• Following its discussion with European Union, Google will be updating its EU User Consent Policy audit program for publishers and advertisers and its audits for the Authorized Buyers program.
• Beginning in February 2020, Google will no longer include contextual content categories in the bid requests it sends to buyers participating in the auction.
• The tech giant will also continue to engage with data protection authorities, including the Irish Data Protection Commission as they continue their investigation into data protection practices in the context of Authorized Buyers.

Following its discussion with European Union, Google will be updating its EU User Consent Policy audit program for publishers and advertisers. It will be restricting the amount of data shared with bidders during an auction.

Otherwise known for its precision in targetted advertisements, starting in February 2020, Google will no longer include contextual content categories in the bid requests it sends to buyers participating in an auction.

Content categories are descriptions of the type of content on a specific page, website or app. For example, these categories may indicate the content type -- if it is about news or weather and are intended to provide contextual information to advertisers about the site or app where the impression may appear.

These descriptions helped advertisers avoid showing ads on certain types of content that aren’t suitable for their brands, or as a way for advertisers to identify types of content where they do want to serve ads.

According to a blog uploaded by Chetna Bindra, Senior Product Manager, User Trust and Privacy, this is yet another step to further guard user privacy.

“While we already prohibit advertisers from using our services to build user profiles around sensitive categories, this change will help avoid the risk that any participant in our auctions is able to associate individual ad identifiers with Google’s contextual content categories,” writes Bindra.

The tech giant will also continue to engage with data protection authorities, including the Irish Data Protection Commission as they continue their investigation into data protection practices in the context of Authorized Buyers.

“Trust is the foundation of a healthy and sustainable advertising ecosystem. That’s why we’re working across products to ensure that our policies and practices are evolving to reflect people’s changing expectations around how data is collected and used. We will continue to ensure that people’s choices about the use of their data are respected, offer users additional controls, and increase transparency into how digital advertising works,” writes Bindra.