In the past decade, the way people engage with the internet changed dramatically. So we’re constantly evaluating our policies to ensure they reflect the latest evolutions in technology and meet our partners’ needs and users’ expectations.
We’re refreshing our platform program policies in light of two advertising ecosystem shifts. First, advances in privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) such as on-device processing, trusted execution environments, and secure multi-party computation, are unlocking new ways for brands to manage and activate their data safely and securely. PETs also give people the privacy protections they expect. We’ve been working to integrate PETs such as confidential computing into our ads products to help businesses tailor their ads and measure results, in ways that allow them to securely use their first-party data without re-identifying users.
The second shift is the rise of new ad-supported devices and platforms. For example, internet users are embracing Connected TV (CTV) experiences, making it one of the fastest growing advertising channels. Businesses who advertise on CTV need the ability to connect with relevant audiences and understand the effectiveness of their campaigns. As people and households increasingly shift to streaming platforms, the ecosystem should invest in and develop solutions that are effective and measurable in an incredibly fragmented environment.
The updated policy clarifies and centralizes how we prohibit certain activities to better protect users, such as not allowing ads that simulate operating system warnings with the intention of deceiving users. The policy also updates the requirements for our partners on the use of data signals.
Internet Protocol (IP) addresses are already commonly used in the broader ads ecosystem to help marketers reach people across their customer journey and measure how their ads are working, especially on CTV. At Google, we have already been using these signals responsibly to fight against spam and fraud for years. Now, with new innovations like PETs to mitigate risks, we see an opportunity to set a high privacy bar on the use of data like IP. We can do this by applying privacy-preserving protections that help businesses reach their customers across these new platforms without the need to re-identify them. And because we’re looking to encourage responsible data use as the new standard across the web, we’ll also partner with the broader ads industry and help make PETs more accessible.
Even as technologies change, our privacy principles remain the same. We continue to give users choice over personalized ads. And we continue to require advertisers and publishers to be fully transparent with users about the data they collect and how it is used.
Policies need to meet the speed of technological advancements, with privacy at the core. With this update, we can help businesses, large and small, meet the opportunities of the evolving digital landscape, while meeting user expectations for privacy.