GDPR Compliance and Consent Settings

This document describes specific integration instructions to ensure compliance with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Please refer to our Kevel & GDPR doc for a high-level overview of how to prepare for the GDPR.

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GDPR compliance and consent settings are also applicable to Swiss traffic as per the Swiss Federal Data Protection Act (DPA).

Setting Consent on the Ad Request - Decision API

To set GDPR consent on a Decision API request, add a top-level consent object:

"consent": {"gdpr": true}

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Note that GDPR consent will default to false unless it is explicitly set.

An example Decision API request with consent set to true:

{
  "consent": {
    "gdpr": true
  },
  "placements": [
    {
      "divName": "div1",
      "networkId": 1234,
      "adId": 12345,
      "siteId": 12345,
      "adTypes": [
        5
      ]
    }
  ]
}

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Frequency capping, attribution, and RTB user matching will not work for EU users unless consent is set. See below for details.

Setting Consent on the Ad Request - Ados.js

To set GDPR consent on an ados.js JavaScript ad request, add the following line to your requests:

ados_setConsent({gdpr: true});

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Note that GDPR consent will default to false unless it is explicitly set.

An example of JavaScript ad tags with consent set to true:

<script type="text/javascript">
2    var ados = ados || {};
3    ados.run = ados.run || [];
4    ados.run.push(function() {
5      ados_add_placement(1234, 123456, "azk829044", 5);
6      ados_setConsent({gdpr: true});
7      ados_load();
8    });

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Frequency capping, attribution, and RTB user matching will not work for EU users unless consent is set. See below for details.

Setting Consent on UserDB

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If consent is not set on the user record OR the request, and the request originates from the EU, then no data from the user record can be used for ad targeting.

You can set GDPR consent for a specific user in UserDB with the GDPR Consent Endpoint. The consent status will be honored anytime the UserKey is used in a request.

Setting Additional Consent and Regulatory Parameters

In addition to the gdpr parameter, there are optional parameters in the consent object that will set consent within Kevel, declare a user subject to GDPR or pass consent to downstream providers. The parameters are available for both the Decision API and ados.js.

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You can also set an IAB consent string via RTB advertiser settings.

Note that consent strings passed in via the request will take precedence over consent strings passed via RTB advertiser settings.

The requests below are examples of the additional consent strings being used to set regulations and derive GDPR consent:

gdprConsentRequired is true, which indicates that the user is subject to GDPR regulation and therefore consent defaults to false. However, the request passes the user's gdprConsentString and the applicable gdprVendorId, and the consent string contains ad serving consent for that allowed vendor ID. Kevel will calculate GDPR consent to true.

## Decision API

{
  "consent": {
    "gdprConsentRequired": true,
    "gdprConsentString": "EXAMPLESTRING",
    "gdprVendorId":1234
  },
  "placements": [
    {
      "divName": "div1",
      "networkId": 1234,
      "adId": 12345,
      "siteId": 12345,
      "adTypes": [
        5
      ]
    }
  ]
}


## ados.js

<script type="text/javascript">
2    var ados = ados || {};
3    ados.run = ados.run || [];
4    ados.run.push(function() {
5      ados_add_placement(1234, 123456, "azk829044", 5);
6      ados_setConsent({gdprConsentRequired: true,gdprConsentString: "EXAMPLESTRING","gdprVendorId":1234});
7      ados_load();
8    });

Consent Setting Hierarchy

Kevel calculates a user's GDPR consent based on the method that sets consent, where certain ways of passing consent will take precedence over others. In the table below, a higher ranked method will override any consent settings beneath it.

Right to Be Forgotten with UserDB

The Forget User Endpoint goes further than the User Opt-Out Endpoint by removing a UserDB record entirely and unsetting the azk cookie that contains the UserKey. It provides users tracked by Kevel customers with the right to be forgotten.

Frequency Capping and GDPR Non-Consent Requests

If:

• A request is subject to GDPR regulation AND
• The user has not consented to tracking AND
• The ad selected by the decision engine is frequency capped

Then one of two ad serving behaviors will take place:

• Strict Frequency Capping: The ad will not be shown to the user. No cookies will be set in the user's browser.
• Lenient Frequency Capping: The ad will be shown to the user, but it will not be frequency capped. No cookies will be set in the user's browser.

Whether the decision engine uses strict or lenient frequency capping is set per network. Contact Kevel support for more details about your network.

Treating All Traffic as GDPR-Regulated

You can optionally treat all Kevel requests as GDPR-regulated regardless of the IP address from the request or user record. Users will then need to pass consent as if they were located in the EU.

Note that the All Traffic as GDPR-Regulated feature:

• Does not affect how the location of Kevel requests is processed in ad serving or reporting. Impressions, clicks etc. will still be recorded as originating from the country resolved from the IP address, and geotargeting will not be affected.
• Does not set or change GDPR consent. Consent still must be obtained via the request, user record, or consent string.

To enable this feature, you must first contact your Kevel account manager.