May-18-2026
To help publishers navigate evolving global age-related regulations (such as US State App Store Bills, GDPR, and COPPA), Google is introducing the Tag for age treatment (TFAT). This new signal provides a unified way to manage ad request protections for different age groups.
- Unified API migration: TFAT replaces the legacy tagForChildDirectedTreatment (TFCD) and tagForUnderAgeOfConsent (TFUA) settings, which will be deprecated in future GPT or SDK versions that support TFAT.
- Introduction of new TFAT setting:
- CHILD: Functionally replaces TFCD/TFUA=True.
- TEEN: (New) Publishers can now specifically signal for a "TEEN" age treatment. This applies to specific ad-serving protections for teens.
- UNSPECIFIED: Default state (equivalent to TFCD/TFUA=No or UNSPECIFIED). Passing UNSPECIFIED does not override user privacy consent strings (TCF/GPP) or other indications of sensitive users or content. Google will still apply the most conservative restriction present.
- Publisher action required: Technical updates are needed to replace the deprecated tags with the new age treatment API in upcoming web (GPT) and app (GMA and IMA SDK) releases to facilitate compliance efforts and maintain access to the latest features.