U.S. states privacy laws compliance

Important: Verify that you have Account Management permission to complete the configuration for EU Consent and GDPR, CPRA, and User Messaging Platform. See Manage user access to your account for details.

To help publishers comply with U.S. states privacy laws, the Google Mobile Ads SDK allows publishers to use two different parameters to indicate whether Google should enable restricted data processing (RDP). The SDK provides publishers with the ability to set RDP at an ad request level utilizing the following signals:

• Google's RDP
• IAB-defined IABUSPrivacy_String

When either parameter is used, Google restricts how it uses certain unique identifiers and other data processed in the provision of services to publishers. As a result, Google will only show non-personalized ads. These parameters override the RDP settings in the UI.

Publishers should decide for themselves how restricted data processing can support their compliance plans and when it should be enabled. It is possible to use both optional parameters at the same time, although they have the same effect on Google's ad serving.

This guide is intended to help publishers understand the steps required to enable these options on a per-ad request basis.

RDP signal

To notify Google that RDP should be enabled using Google's RDP signal, you must write the key gad_rdp with a value of true to UserDefaults.

Swift

UserDefaults.standard.set(true, forKey: "gad_rdp")

Objective-C

[NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults setBool:YES forKey:@"gad_rdp"];

Tip: You can use network tracing or a proxy tool such as Charles to capture your app's HTTPS traffic and inspect the ad requests for a &rdp= parameter.

IAB signal

To notify Google that RDP should be enabled using IAB's signal, use the key IABUSPrivacy_String. Make sure that the string value you use is compliant with the IAB specification. The Google Mobile Ads SDK reads the IABUSPrivacy_String key during ad loading.

Swift

UserDefaults.standard.set(IAB_STRING, forKey: "IABUSPrivacy_String")

Objective-C

[NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults setObject:IAB_STRING
    forKey:@"IABUSPrivacy_String"];

Tip: You can use network tracing or a proxy tool such as Charles to capture your app's HTTPS traffic and inspect the ad requests for a &us_privacy= parameter.

Mediation

Important: Verify that you have the necessary account permissions to complete the mediation configuration. These permissions include access to inventory management, app access, and privacy and messaging features. See Manage user access to your account for details.

If you use mediation:

1. Follow the steps in CPRA settings to add your mediation partners to the CPRA ad partners list in the AdMob UI.

2. Consider writing the IAB signal using UserDefaults so mediation partner SDKs that are compliant with the IAB Specification can also read the signal.

3. Consult each ad network partner's documentation to determine what options they offer to help towards CPRA compliance.