The aim of this article is to present the purposes and features behind the TCF framework policies approved by the IAB, which came into effect on November 20th, 2023.
☝️Key Concepts:
Consent: users must opt-in to the concerned feature/purpose before vendors may use it.
Legitimate Interest: users have the option to opt-out of the specific feature or purpose in question.
1 - Purposes
Vendors can establish flexible purposes, on purposes 2, and 7 to 11.
This gives more power to Publishers, through publisher restrictions.
- Purpose 1 - Store and/or access information on a device
Legal basis: consent
SDK ID: cookies - Purpose 2 - Use limited data to select advertising
Legal basis: consent / legitimate Interest
SDK ID: select_basic_ads - Purpose 3 - Create profiles for personalised advertising
Legal basis: consent
SDK ID: create_ads_profile - Purpose 4 - Use profiles to select personalised advertising
Legal basis: consent
SDK ID: select_personalized_ads - Purpose 5 - Create profiles to personalise content
Legal basis: consent
SDK ID: create_content_profile - Purpose 6 - Use profiles to select personalised content
Legal basis: consent
SDK ID: Select_personalized_content - Purpose 7 - Measure advertising performance
Legal basis: consent /legitimate Interest
SDK ID: measure_ad_performance - Purpose 8 - Measure content performance
Legal basis: consent/legitimate Interest
SDK ID: measure_content_performance - Purpose 9 - Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources
Legal basis: consent/legitimate Interests
SDK ID: market_research - Purpose 10 - Develop and improve products
Legal basis: consent/legitimate Interest
SDK ID: improve_products - Purpose 11 - Use limited data to select content
Legal basis: consent/legitimate interest
SDK ID: use_limited_data_to_select_content
2- Special purposes
Users do not have the option to opt-out of these special purposes
- Special Purpose 1 - Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors
Legal basis : Legitimate Interest - Special Purpose 2 - Deliver and present advertising and content
Legal basis: Legitimate Interest - Special Purpose 3 - Save and Communicate Privacy Choices
Legal basis: Legitimate Interest
3- Features
The features are not conditioned on user consent, they provide more information on how vendors use users' personal data. They will be no possibility of accepting or refusing these features.
- Feature 1 - Match and combine data from other data sources
- Feature 2 - Link different devices
- Feature 3 - Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically
4- Special features
- Special Feature 1 - Use precise geolocation data
Legal basis : Consent
SDK ID: geolocation_data - Special Feature 2 - Actively scan device characteristics for identification
Legal bases : Consent
SDK ID: device_characteristics
☝️Special features and purposes can be managed in stacks that will regroup them by categories.
In a nutshell, here is a schema :
5 - This how they should appear in your consent notice:
- First view (notice view) :
- The complete list of purposes or the stacks (1) + purpose number 1. (2)
- Special features or stack 1 (including both special features). (3)
- Personalised ads and content (1)
- Advertising and content measurement (1)
- Audience research and services development (1)
- Store and/or access information on a device (2)
- Precise geolocalisation data (3)
- Identification through device scanning (3)
- Second view (preference view):
- All purposes and/or stacks. (1)
- Special features. (2)
- Special purposes. (3)
- Features. (4)
- Third view (vendor's view):
- List of legal basis that are linked to purposes used by every partner. (first image)
- List of additional data processing. (special purposes & features)
- Categories of data
- Device storage
- A link redirecting to the privacy policy of the concerned vendor.
You can see here the list of IAB TCF v.2.2 purposes descriptions and their translations.