Dive Brief:

• Google will adopt the IAB Tech Lab’s standards to comply with California's privacy law that takes effect next year. The company's Google Ad Manager, AdSense, AdMob and DV360 platforms will support the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) on Jan. 1, AdExchanger reported.
• Google is weighing whether to adopt the IAB Tech Lab’s technical specifications for other products. Google won't use IAB's standard contracts for its CCPA compliance framework because it has product-specific contracts with existing partners, AdExchanger reported, citing a Google spokesperson.
• The IAB Tech Lab's technical specifications allow for real-time bidding (RTB) while limiting data sharing when consumers opt out of the sale of their personal information. The industry group released its technical specifications for the compliance framework on Nov. 18. While the law does take effect on Jan. 1, California will have a six-month grace period before enforcement begins, according to the state's attorney general.

Dive Insight:

Google's adoption of IAB Tech Lab's technical standards is significant for marketers, given that the search giant is estimated to command about 37% of digital ad spending in the U.S. through its search platform and networks that feed ads to other websites and mobile apps. The California law to protect consumer privacy could set the tone for the whole country, given that about one out of eight Americans lives in the state. Mass-market brands also likely want to avoid the complications of setting up systems to comply with a patchwork of state rules in the absence of a national consumer-privacy law.

When consumers allow the sale of their personal information — and "selling" covers a broad range of marketing-related activities, according to an analysis by law firm Skadden Arps ​— Google's services will work the same as usual. For consumers who opt out of data sales, Google will start honoring their requests on Jan. 1. Restricted data processing will take effect for AdSense, AdMob and Ad Manager, and Google won't process bid requests for third parties through programmatic channels. For its DV360 buy-side platform, Google won't place a bid when it receives opt-out notifications from third-party exchanges, AdExchanger reported.

Google's support for CCPA compliance comes as other organizations have announced plans to help marketers navigate the new rules. Last month, the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) released website and app opt-out tools for publishers, brands, agencies and ad-tech firms across industries. The organization's tools are primarily for third parties' data usage, and it urges publishers to manage their own first-party data to comply with the law. OneTrust Pro and TrustArc are among the vendors that provide CCPA compliance solutions.