Google has a long history of taking a user-first approach in everything that we do. As a part of our commitment to users, we never sell personal information and give users transparency and control over their ad experiences via tools like My Account, Why this Ad and Mute this Ad. We also invest in initiatives such as the Coalition for Better Ads, the Digital News Initiative, the Google News Initiative and ads.txt in order to support a healthy, sustainable ads ecosystem and help you, our publishers, grow.
In June 2020, the Japanese government introduced a set of amendments to the existing Act on the Protection of Personal Information (APPI). The Amended APPI came into effect on 1 April 2022.
The Amended APPI, amongst other things, includes rules relating to the processing of 'personal referable information' ('PRI') of Japanese users. When providing PRI of Japanese users to a third party who will likely associate that data with 'Personal Information', the Amended APPI will require companies to confirm with the recipient that the recipient has obtained consent from data subjects to the recipient's processing, and record recipient's confirmation. PRI typically takes the form of information collected by identifiers that do not in themselves identify a specific individual (for example, a cookie ID) and are not stored alongside personal data (as defined in the APPI).
When Google receives PRI from organisations in connection with Google advertising or measurement services, Google may combine it with personal data independently collected by Google. Where Google combines PRI with personal data that Google has independently collected, it does so on the basis of consent from data subjects and typically combines the data in order to 'provide personalised services, including content and ads' and 'measure performance' (read 'Why Google collects data' in our Privacy Policy), for serving ads, and similar or related processing activities. As regards the obligation to provide information on PRI cross-border transfers, learn more about the ”Provision of information on the personal information protection systems in foreign countries (Amended APPI Article 31.1.2)”
