Google Launches AdSense Privacy & Messaging For Users To Opt Out

Google has begun rolling out a new privacy and messaging feature for AdSense ads in some US states. This is to comply with California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, and Utah privacy laws. The feature allows the site to communicate to the user about opting out of the sale or sharing of their personal information.

Google wrote, “We’ve launched user messages for Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia and Utah privacy laws in AdSense in addition to California. Through these messages, site visitors can opt out of the sale or sharing of their personal information.”

The US state regulations message type is displayed to site visitors who are subject to privacy legislation specific to the state in which they’re located. For example, residents in California are subject to the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). A US state regulations message contains multiple “screens” (or “pages”) that are shown to users when they view your message.

This is what a “Do Not Sell or Share” link may look like:

For existing US state regulations messages, Google said that you will need to activate new states manually in the user interface targeting settings in order for them to apply. For new US state regulations messages, all US available states will be selected by default, and you can update the selection in the user interface targeting settings prior to publishing.

To activate new states or update your current selection, click the message name, then click targeting and select the geographic targeting options required within the AdSense console.

Here is how to set this up in your AdSense account:

1. Sign in to your AdSense account.
2. Click Privacy & messaging.
3. Create a new message. On the US state regulations message type card:
   • Click Create if this is your first US state regulations message.
   • Click Manage if you’ve previously created a US state regulations message. Then, click Create message.
4. Select the sites in which this message will be displayed:
   1. Click Select sites.
   2. Select the desired sites.
   3. Click Confirm. 
5. Select the default language in which this message will be displayed. You can choose from English, Spanish, or Spanish (Latin America). 
6. In the “Message name” field, enter a descriptive message name that will help you identify the message later. The name is shown only in the Privacy & messaging page and won’t be visible to users.
7. (Optional) Edit and format the message to match your editorial and visual standards.
8. When you’re ready, click Publish. Or, click Save draft to save a draft of the message and exit the message builder without publishing.

For more details, refer to these Google AdSense help documents:

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