Conversant and CJ Affiliate Launch New GDPR Compliance Tool for Digital Advertising

By Sudipto Ghosh On Mar 28, 2018

Free GDPR Compliance Tool Enables Advertisers and Publishers to Gain Unambiguous Consumer Consent Ahead of the Upcoming GDPR

In a recent announcement, Conversant and CJ Affiliate have launched a new tool for advertisers and publishers to gain GDPR and ePrivacy Directive (ePD) compliant consent from consumers. With this new lightweight application, visitors to advertiser and publisher websites are asked for both GDPR and ePD compliant consent, before the processing of cookie IDs or other personal data.

Recommended Read: Is GDPR Really Changing Ad Tech?

Now, advertisers and publishers gain straightforward, unambiguous consent which is then stored within the IAB EU’s Transparency and Consent Framework.

At the time of this announcement, Kevin Hartleben, Director of Platform Solutions, Conversant, said, “There’s been so much focus on consent with the upcoming GDPR, but discussions have too-often revolved around notions such as legitimate interest. If we really want to handle consumer data properly, advertisers need to go further and ensure they have true ‘unambiguous’ consent. That’s why we’ve developed this tool and why we’re offering it for free – we want to improve the industry as a whole and, more importantly, offer consumers the best user experience.”

The new consent tool for GDPR compliance is free and publicly available for all advertisers and publishers to use for their digital advertising activity.

This new GDPR Compliance tool plugs into publisher websites, appearing as a popup when users first arrive on the site. It appears with a dynamic list of vendors – compiled by the site – who are eligible to gather consent from the site visitor. Vendors that already have consent, however, will not appear, and nor will those with an active no-consent flag.

Kevin added, “We’re always striving to offer new, data-driven solutions and looking for ways to resolve the issues facing our industry. Data privacy and conforming to the new regulations brought about by the GDPR is the big challenge currently confronting advertisers and publishers. Consumer-friendly data-privacy is a long-held principle throughout Conversant – our services have been built from the ground-up with ‘privacy by design’ as a fundamental approach – and we wholeheartedly support giving consumers greater transparency and choice around what happens with their data. This new consent tool is a real testament to this, as well as our commitment to continued innovation and the industry as a whole.”

The GDPR Compliance tool is also part of Conversant and CJ Affiliate’s continued collaboration with IAB EU, with the tool acting as a Consent Management Provider (CMP), affirming that it complies to the same technical standards as the IAB EU framework. This relationship with the IAB EU also provides a standardized approach for the whole digital supply chain, checking where consumers have already given specific consent so that they do not have to be bothered multiple times.