Google adds RTB control

A federal judge approved a class-action settlement with Google in March 2026 that requires the company to offer U.S. users a new way to limit how their information is used in real-time bidding ad auctions. The new control, described in settlement materials as “RTB Control,” is now tied to Google’s existing partner-ads setting and applies to Google account holders in the United States. Settlement notices and related materials say the change gives hundreds of millions of users a new privacy option rather than a cash payment. ### What exactly changed inside Google’s ad settings? Google’s ad-settings system now lets eligible users limit certain data use in real-time bidding by changing the partner-ads setting tied to ad selection on sites and apps outside Google’s own properties. The settlement notice says users must take action themselves: they need to turn off Google’s partner-ads setting to activate the new RTB-related limit. (morningstar.com) Google’s My Ad Center help pages say ad controls already let users manage personalization across Google services and partner inventory, but the settlement-created RTB Control adds a legal and operational focus on data shared in ad auctions. The settlement materials say the control was introduced on April 24, 2026, alongside expanded disclosures about RTB auctions and privacy choices. (morningstar.com) ### Why are privacy lawyers focused on real-time bidding? The case, In re: Google RTB Consumer Privacy Litigation, challenged Google’s handling of user data in real-time bidding auctions, a process in which ad opportunities are offered to multiple buyers in fractions of a second. Settlement materials say plaintiffs alleged Google shared user data with hundreds of third parties through those auctions and did so billions of times each day without adequate disclosure in public-facing account documents. (support.google.com) The Electronic Frontier Foundation said in January that RTB has long raised privacy concerns because the system broadcasts information widely across the advertising chain. The group said the Google settlement was a step toward giving people more control, while adding that broader legislative action would still be needed to address RTB harms more fully. (prnewswire.com) ### Why does the opt-out design matter to marketers and operators? The settlement notice says the control is not automatic. Users who want to limit this data use must switch off the partner-ads setting themselves, which means the effect will depend on how many people see the notice, understand it and act on it. (eff.org) For marketing and revenue-operations teams, that design leaves attribution systems exposed to a more uneven signal environment. When some users restrict data sharing in auction-based advertising flows and others do not, campaign reporting that leans heavily on platform-side exhaust can become less complete and harder to reconcile across systems. That is an inference from the settlement’s mechanics and from how ad-platform permissions affect downstream measurement. (morningstar.com) ### What should teams preserve if platform signals weaken? Campaign IDs, form metadata and self-reported source fields become more important when ad-platform visibility is reduced. Those fields live in a company’s own systems rather than inside the ad auction itself, which makes them less dependent on whether a platform can continue passing through the same level of user-linked data. This is an operational inference based on the settlement’s new user control over RTB data use. (morningstar.com) Google’s official help documentation says users can already adjust personalized ads and related settings in My Ad Center. The next practical step for affected users is to review the partner-ads setting through Google’s ad controls, while companies that rely on paid-media attribution will need to monitor reporting changes as adoption of the new RTB Control develops. (support.google.com) (morningstar.com)