Google has a long history of taking a user-first approach in everything we do. As a part of our commitment to users, we never sell personal information. We give users transparency and control over their ad experiences via My Ad Centre, My Account and several other features to help you manage your account. Per our Personalised advertising policy, we never use sensitive information like health, race, religion or sexual orientation to personalise ads. We also invest in initiatives such as the Coalition for Better Ads, the Google News Initiative and ads.txt to support a healthy and sustainable ads ecosystem.
Google welcomes privacy laws that protect consumers. In May 2018, we launched several updates to help advertisers and publishers comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EEA and the UK.
In 2019, Google began offering restricted data processing (RDP) to help advertisers, publishers and partners manage their compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). In January 2023, we expanded the operation of restricted data processing to help customers and partners manage their compliance with the new US state privacy laws.
Updates to restricted data processing and CCPA service provider status (July 2023)
Starting 1 July 2023 Google will no longer act as your service provider (in California) under the California Privacy Rights and Enforcement Act of 2020 for cross-context behavioural advertising. This means restricted data processing will no longer be offered for Customer Match.
These changes will be reflected in the existing U.S. State Privacy Laws Addendum to the Google Ads Data Processing Terms and the Google Ads Controller-Controller Data Protection Terms.About restricted data processing
With restricted data processing, Google restricts the way that it uses certain unique identifiers and other data processed in the provision of services to you to undertake certain activities.
With respect to data to which restricted data processing applies, these activities include the following feature:
- Ad delivery
- Debugging
- Improving and developing
- Reporting and measurement
- Security and fraud detection
Subject to the terms of our relevant US State Privacy Laws Addenda, we'll act as your service provider with respect to data processed while restricted data processing is enabled.
Restricted data processing operates differently across our products. Advertisers, publishers and partners should ensure that use of Google products and services, including restricted data processing, meets their compliance requirements. For products where action is required to enable restricted data processing, partners must decide for themselves when and how to enable it. Some may decide to enable restricted data processing on a per-user basis (for example, following a user opt-out by clicking on a 'Do Not Sell My Personal Information' link). Alternatively, for products that support it, some partners may decide to enable restricted data processing for all users in applicable US states.
Colorado has determined that the specific universal opt-out mechanism to be utilised is Global Privacy Controls (GPC). Google will turn off personalised ads targeting and activate restrictive data processing (RDP) if we receive a GPC from a user or advertiser/publisher in Colorado. In all other US states with regulations impacting ad targeting, partners who have implemented the Global Privacy Control may choose to turn on restricted data processing when they receive a GPC opt-out signal.
Restricted data processing does not extend to the sending or disclosure of data to third parties that you may have enabled in our products and services, and you should ensure that you’ve taken all measures with respect to such third parties as required to meet your compliance needs. If you've shared data from one Google product with another via product integrations or through other means, data will be subject to the terms of the recipient product once shared. For example, if you build an audience with enhanced conversions or offline conversion imports and you export it to another product for personalised advertising, restricted data processing may not be available.
Products and features that already operate using restricted data processing
These Google Ads products and features already operate using restricted data processing:
- Customer Match*
- Enhanced conversions for web and leads
- Offline conversion imports
- Shop sales (uploads)
Users of the above-mentioned products and features require no action to enable restricted data processing.
If you have shared data from one Google product with another via product integrations or through other means, data will be subject to the terms of the recipient product once shared.
*Starting 1 July 2023, restricted data processing will not be available in California where the advertiser engages in cross-context behavioural advertising, including Customer Match. For more information, please see this article.
Products and features that require action to enable restricted data processing
When you enable restricted data processing, Google will limit how it uses data. Certain features will be unavailable, including adding users to remarketing lists, adding users to similar audience remarketing seed lists and related functionality. For App campaigns, enabling restricted data processing may mean that the users who install your app will continue to see ads for that app following installation.
Even when you've enabled restricted data processing, ads with third-party ad tracking or third-party ad serving, where eligible to serve (for example, on the Google Display Network), will serve unless disabled by a publisher. Google’s contractual commitments regarding restricted data processing don't apply to such third-party tracking and serving vendors. You should ensure that you’ve taken appropriate measures with respect to such third parties as required to meet your compliance needs. For ads serving via cross-exchange for display, Google won't bid on bid requests where a publisher has sent an opt-out signal.
| Product | Enable restricted data processing |
|---|---|
| Google Ads |
Google Ads offers you two options to enable restricted data processing:
|
| Google Analytics, Google Analytics for Firebase |
If you're a Google Analytics or Google Analytics for Firebase customer, subject to the 'US State Privacy Laws Service Provider and Processor Addendum', Google Analytics will act as a service provider unless you’ve enabled sharing with Google products and services. If you export data from Google Analytics or from Google Analytics for Firebase to other products (like Google Ads) as a result of product integrations, that data is subject to the terms of services of those products. Google Analytics offers a collection of tools that enable you to control how data is collected, and whether it's used for advertising personalisation. To learn more, read the Audience list sharing section below or visit the 'Advertising Personalisation' section in the Google Analytics help centre. |
| App campaigns |
If you measure app conversions using Google Analytics for Firebase SDK, you've two options:
|
| Google Tag Manager | A new 'Enable Restricted Data Processing' field is available in the Google Ads tags (Conversion and Remarketing) in Google Tag Manager. Follow these instructions to set it up. |
*Note: Customers currently using the allow_ad_personalization_signals parameter to enable restricted data processing can continue to do so. However, Google may require use of the restricted_data_processing parameter in the future.
Audience list sharing
If restricted data processing is enabled in Google Ads, it only applies to audience lists created with the Google Ads tag. If you have audience lists shared with Google Ads from either Google Analytics, Display & Video 360 or Search Ads 360, you’ll need to go to those products to enable restricted data processing for the data that's exported to Google Ads. See the table below for additional details:
Enable restricted data processing for the data that's exported to Google Ads
| Product | How to enable restricted data processing for the data that's exported to Google Ads |
| Google Analytics |
You can control whether your Google Analytics data is used for ads personalisation with the following options in the Analytics interface:
|
| Display & Video 360 |
If you want to disable audience list sharing to Google Ads from Display & Video 360, you have three options in Display & Video 360:
|
| Search Ads 360 | Search Ads 360 doesn't currently enable exporting audiences to Google Ads for Search. In addition, users located in California won't be added to search-to-display and social-to-display remarketing lists. You can learn more by reading this article. |
About IAB privacy strings
Google is a certified partner under IAB Privacy’s Multi-State Privacy Agreement (MSPA) Certified Partner Programme (CPP) and has integrated with the IAB CCPA Framework v1.0 Technical Specifications. Additionally, Google Ads is planning to expand support for IABs US National String in late 2024.
Currently Google’s Display and Video 360 supports IAB’s CA, CO, CT and VA state strings via GPP.
Google doesn’t require partners to sign the IAB Multi-State Privacy Agreement (MSPA) in order to work with Google. MSPA Certified Partners are permitted to process MSPA covered transactions without signing the MSPA. We have integrated with IAB’s Global Privacy Platform (GPP).
Advertisers who choose to use the IAB signal should follow the technical specification provided by the IAB Tech Lab to implement the us_privacy string on their pages. Our Google Ads tags will interact with the advertisers page to retrieve the us_privacy string and apply restricted data processing when the string indicates a user has opted out.
- When the IAB string indicates a user has not opted out, there will be no changes to behaviour.
- When the IAB string indicates a user has opted out, Google will enable restricted data processing.
