Supporting the Digital Services Act (DSA)

The European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA) seeks to regulate online content, transparent advertising, and disinformation by creating a single set of rules across the EU. The expressed purpose of the DSA is to update the European Union's existing legal framework addressing illegal content on intermediaries, and in doing so, harmonize the related national laws that have emerged across the European Union.

Some, though not all, publishers may fall into one of the following categories, as defined by the European Commission:

  • Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs)
  • Online Platforms (OPs)
  • Hosting Service (HS)

Publishers should work with their legal teams to determine how the DSA applies to them, including which category they belong to (VLOP, OP, HS, or none) and any obligations they may have under DSA. Many publishers will not be a member of any of these categories.

DSA Online Platform obligations take effect in February 2024.

Ad badging for Reservations

Publishers have per-creative control on whether ad badging is displayed by Google for reservation creatives. For creatives with badging enabled, publishers have network-level control over whether this badging shows only for users in the European Economic Area (EEA) or for users worldwide.

Google Ad Manager’s ad badging solution includes an AdChoices icon and a link to Google’s About This Ad page. Publishers can control some of the information displayed on the About This Ad page using the steps in the "In-ad transparency" section of this article.

Creative control

In the "Creative" settings, publishers can select whether ad badging is shown using the "Show ad badging on this creative" setting.

Tip: In order for the ad badge to render correctly, the creative must be rendered within the GPT iFrame.
  • When enabled, badging will be shown on this creative. Badging will be shown only in the EEA or for users worldwide, based on the publisher’s network settings.
  • When disabled, badging will not be shown on this creative.
  • This doesn't apply to creatives served with 100% SOV sponsorship campaigns through Ad Manager, unless the user is in the EEA.

This setting will be enabled by default for all creatives except for third-party creatives, video redirect creatives, and audio redirect creatives.

Where publishers disable ad badging, ads must comply with applicable regulatory requirements for ads served in the European Economic Area (EEA). This includes a mechanism for users to report illegal content. Publishers must notify Google of any illegal content reports using the appropriate form.

The following formats don’t support Google ad badging:

In-ad transparency (optional)

For impacted publishers, we provide tools to show in-ad information, including the name of the advertiser, the ad's targeting settings, and labels on ads served in the EEA.

Turn on in-ad transparency

Complete the following steps to control in-ad transparency information:  

  1. Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
  2. Click Privacy & messaging.
  3. Click Settings on the European regulations message type card.
  4. Select the options you want to apply:
    • (Optional) Show advertiser and targeting information on Reservation ads in EEA: Advertiser name, sponsor, and targeting information will be included for reservation ads in the EEA.
      When enabled, the creative advertiser will be displayed directly as entered in Ad Manager. Publishers should review the advertiser name associated with their reservation creatives to ensure that these names reflect what they want to display to users.
    • (Optional) Ask buyers to only show ads with DSA transparency information on my site or app in EEA: When enabled, Ad Manager will signal to buyers that ads must contain ad badge, advertiser, and targeting information. Ads from buyers that do not affirm that this in-ad information is present will be rejected. Enabling this control may result in significantly reduced ad revenue.
  5. Click Save.
These in-ad transparency controls are optional and you can deselect these options to opt out.

Ad Manager Reservations

Reservation ads served in the EEA will include an AdChoices icon and a link to Google's About This Ad page. Publishers must support the AdChoices icon in order to be eligible for Google-hosted Reservation traffic in the EEA and should review guidance on ensuring support for the AdChoices icon on their ads.

In order for the ad badge to render correctly, the creative must be rendered within the GPT iFrame.

Publishers will be able to control some of the information displayed on the About This Ad page:

  • Advertiser name as entered on the creative
  • Sponsor as entered on the creative (optional) 
  • Targeting information based on the line item targeting of the reservation; mapped into the following categories:
    • User lists (including audience segments)
    • Geographical
    • Contextual (including device, browser, operating system)
Publisher custom key-value targeting will not be mapped for this purpose.

The following formats won't support displaying this information as of February 2024:

Google Demand

By default, Google demand that serves in the EEA will include an AdChoices icon and a link to Google's About This Ad page, which includes the name of the advertiser and the primary targeting parameters used. Publishers must support the AdChoices icon in order to be eligible for Google Demand traffic in the EEA and should review guidance on ensuring support for the AdChoices icon on their ads.

Authorized Buyers, Open Bidding, and SDK Bidding partners

Publishers should work with their Authorized Buyers, Open Bidding, and SDK Bidding partners to understand how they plan to support DSA-related obligations, including displaying ad badging and supporting ad transparency for the ads they deliver.

The following information is based on the current draft IAB DSA Transparency specification and is subject to change.

When the "Ask buyers to only show ads with DSA transparency information on my site or app in EEA" control is enabled by a publisher, the following behavior is applied to requests from the EEA:

  • Bid requests will include Regs.ext.dsa object with following values:
    • Regs.ext.dsa.dsainfo=2: Required; bid responses without DSA object will not be accepted.
    • Regs.ext.dsa.pubrender=0: Publisher can't render.
    • Regs.ext.dsa.datatopub=0: Do not send transparency data.
  • Bid responses that don't include Bid.ext.dsa.adrender=1 will be blocked.

Buyer guidance for integration with IAB DSA spec

When a buyer receives the signal in bid request that DSA transparency must be displayed, they should assess whether they can appropriately display the required information.

If a buyer responds with Bid.ext.dsa.adrender=1, they should ensure they are:

  • Displaying an ad badge or indication that the creative content is an ad.
  • Providing a method for users to access the following information:

Protection of minors

Publishers with additional obligations toward minor users can utilize our existing tools for users under the age of consent.

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