Compliance & regulatory
IAB TCF (v2.2)
IAB's Transparency and Consent Framework for downstream consent-signaling.
IAB Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF, currently v2.2) is the technical standard for signaling user consent to ad-tech vendors downstream of the CMP. Defines a TC string (encoded user choices for purposes 1–10 and 700+ vendors) that's passed in the bidstream. Mandatory for EU traffic on most major SSPs and DSPs. v2.2 (May 2023) tightened legitimate-interest carve-outs and required specific purpose-by-purpose consent.
Example
EU traffic with TCF 2.2 signal showing user denied 'precise geolocation' and 'create profiles for personalized advertising' — Google AdX bid responses fall 22% on that traffic vs same user with full consent.