Google kills non-personalized ads control in European settings

Google has removed a key privacy control feature from AdSense, potentially affecting thousands of publishers across Europe who manage user consent for advertising.

Just two days ago, on May 16, 2025, Google announced the deprecation of account-level control for non-personalized ads from the Privacy & messaging settings in AdSense. This change specifically affects the "Ad choice control" option previously available in European message settings. The removal marks a significant shift in how publishers must handle user privacy preferences within the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, and Switzerland.

According to Google's Help Center announcement, "Ad choice control ('Choosing the type of ad you want to show') is deprecated and has been removed from the European message settings in Privacy & messaging." The company states this change impacts publishers serving users in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland regions governed by stringent privacy regulations.

This modification fundamentally changes how publishers manage different ad personalization preferences for their users. Previously, the account-level control provided a straightforward method for publishers to designate certain users to receive non-personalized ads. The interface allowed for a more centralized approach to privacy management.

In place of the deprecated feature, Google is directing publishers toward alternative methods. "We encourage you to use the IAB TCF framework for collecting and communicating users' consent decisions in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland," the announcement states. The IAB Transparency and Consent Framework represents the industry standard for managing user consent across the digital advertising ecosystem.

For publishers seeking to maintain granular control over ad personalization, Google explains that technical options remain available: "If you wish to serve some users personalized ads, and other users non-personalized ads, AdSense asynchronous ad tags offer publishers a way to trigger the serving of non-personalized ads on a per-page basis."

The documentation detailing these implementation methods is extensive, covering multiple technical approaches across various ad delivery platforms. Publishers can implement these changes through specific code modifications in their ad tags.

For pages using Google Publisher Tags (GPT), developers have several options to set non-personalized ad parameters. One approach involves using the method: googletag.pubads().setPrivacySettings({nonPersonalizedAds: true}). Additionally, Google has introduced a newer Publisher Privacy Treatment (PPT) parameter option that can be set using: googletag.setConfig({privacyTreatments: { treatments: ["disablePersonalization"]}}).

For publishers using the standard AdSense asynchronous ad tag, the implementation requires setting: (adsbygoogle=window.adsbygoogle||[]).requestNonPersonalizedAds=1. The company notes that developers can verify proper implementation by checking browser developer tools for the parameter &npa=1 in ad requests.

The more recent PPT parameter offers two implementation paths - either through a push API method or through a header tag API approach. The push method uses: (adsbygoogle=window.adsbygoogle||[]).push({ params: {google_privacy_treatments: 'disablePersonalization'}}), while the header approach requires adding a data attribute to the AdSense script tag.

Google's technical documentation also addresses specialized implementations across additional platforms, including AMP pages, GPT passback tags, tagless requests, AdSense for Search, mobile applications via the User Messaging Platform SDK, and video content using the Interactive Media Ads SDK.

For AMP pages, which utilize a different architecture than standard web pages, Google outlines specific component configurations using amp-geo and amp-consent elements. These implementations allow publishers to manage consent based on geographic locations and user interactions with consent interfaces.

The timing of this change arrives during a period of heightened scrutiny regarding digital privacy practices in Europe. Regulatory bodies across the EU continue monitoring compliance with GDPR and ePrivacy directives, which govern how companies must handle user data and obtain proper consent.

Industry analysts note that this change appears designed to push publishers toward more standardized consent frameworks rather than proprietary solutions. The IAB TCF framework Google recommends represents an industry-wide effort to create consistency in consent management.

The deprecation affects a specific privacy control mechanism rather than removing the ability to serve non-personalized ads entirely. Publishers retain technical capabilities to deliver non-personalized advertisements but must now implement these controls at the code level rather than through account settings.

For many smaller publishers without dedicated technical resources, this change may create implementation challenges. While larger organizations with development teams can more readily adapt their systems to the new requirements, independent publishers may struggle with the technical complexity of the recommended solutions.

According to Google's documentation, non-personalized ads differ from personalized ads in how they target users. While personalized ads utilize user browsing history and other behavioral data to increase relevance, non-personalized ads primarily rely on contextual information from the current page and general factors like geographic location.

One critical aspect of the technical guidance emphasizes that even non-personalized ads continue using cookies for certain functions: "Although these ads don't use cookies for ad personalization, they do use cookies to allow for frequency capping and aggregated ad reporting." This distinction matters significantly for compliance with the ePrivacy Directive, as Google notes: "Consent is therefore required to use cookies for those purposes from users in countries to which the ePrivacy Directive's cookie provisions apply."

For publishers serving both personalized and non-personalized ads based on user consent, Google outlines methods to temporarily pause ad requests until consent decisions are recorded. Using GPT, developers can utilize the disableInitialLoad() function to prevent immediate ad requests, then later call refresh() to resume requests after capturing consent. Similarly, AdSense implementations can use pauseAdRequests=1 to halt requests until appropriate user choices are recorded.

The documentation explicitly notes that this technique "blocks ad requests from being sent, but various scripts are still loaded." While existing cookies on Google domains may be read during this process, the company states that "no new cookies will be set" and "any data associated with existing cookies will not be used for ad serving or measurement" until appropriate consent is established.

Timeline

• May 16, 2025: Google announces deprecation of account-level control for non-personalized ads from European message settings
• February 2023: Google introduces Publisher Privacy Treatment API (Beta) offering more granular controls
• September 2022: Google enhances IAB TCF v2.2 integration options for publishers
• January 2022: Implementation deadline for enhanced consent management for EEA users
• August 2020: Initial introduction of non-personalized ad controls in response to regulatory guidelines