GDPR Mobile Advert (Admob) Compliance

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  • Well the GDPR Consent madness continues...

    I've created a small project that tests which platform (iOS/Android) you're viewing it on and displays the relevant ads for that platform. iOS automatically configures correctly, Android fails to configure until a button is pressed telling it to configure.

    So far, the consent form automatically appears on iOS startup and gives the following options:

    1. See relevant ads
    2. See non-relevant ads
    3. No ad-free option as this is turned off

    The Android version is set up exactly the same and gives the following options:

    1. No option to see relevant/non-relevant ads - just a message saying its displaying non relevant ads.

    The iOS version although it configures and asks if I want relevant ads it very, very rarely actually loads banner or interstitial ads and when it does they're not relevant (adverts for gun shows in the US etc).

    The Android version doesn't give me the option to select relevant ads, just non-relevant ads - BUT it does always load banner and interstitial ads plus they're relevant ads (ads for my local colleges and the theatre in my home town).

    Ashley, Nepeo I still think there's a fair way to go on this plugin as the iOS version doesn't like loading banners plus there doesn't seem to be any logic or consistency as to what it displays in the final project from platform to platform.

  • I feel like I should warn everyone that adverts are now more involved. In Construct you will now have to specify your application ID, publisher ID ( available on your admob settings page and looks like "pub-012134127862" ) as well as the URL to your applications privacy policy. Furthermore you will need to change your ad technology provider list from default to custom and select a maximum of 12 providers ( this is a limitation of the Google consent dialog ).

    Sorry to resurrect an old thread Nepeo, but is this still applicable? I'm seeing mixed reports from different sources.

    And if so, is it better just to keep the provider limited to Google?

    Cheers

  • Last I checked the limit was still 12, it was quite awhile a go but maintenance of the User consent SDK has been very lacking on Admobs part. No one on their is even looking at the bug tracker as far as I'm aware, so I would be surprised if anything had changed.

    I'd advise just to give it a go. There might be financial advantages to allowing adverts from other networks, but I don't have the experience to let you know. Other users might be able to tell you, or just a google search, there's probably people talking about it online.

  • Thanks Nepeo for the reply, I'll just stick to the recommended 12 listings.

    As a developer you need to:

    1. change your ad technology provider list from default to custom and select a maximum of 12 providers
    2. add a button to your game ( either in settings or the start page ) to show the user consent dialog ( action on the mobile advert plugin )
    3. add you publisher ID and privacy policy URL to your project ( properties of the mobile advert plugin )
    4. decide if you going to offer a paid ad free version of your game

    The second one is important; while the user consent dialog is already shown to the user on first run you are required to allow your users to withdraw or modify their consent at a later date

    Sorry to keep hammering you on this.

    I added the button like suggested, that runs fine when I spoof my location to be in EU and all that. However, outside of the EU, that button does nothing.

    Ideally, I would like to just be able to hide it if the player isn't in the EU, but I can't find an event condition that would let me do this. Is there an event hiding somewhere that lets the program check if the user is in the EU? I've looked in mobileAdvert, Geolocation and system event conditions with no luck. Likewise, been through the manual.

    Any help or suggestions on this would be appreciated as I hate just having a button there that does nothing.

    Cheers

  • I added the button like suggested, that runs fine when I spoof my location to be in EU and all that. However, outside of the EU, that button does nothing.

    I thought I was the only one having this problem and had messed something up with my events or admob settings.

  • Mmm yeah the dialog doesn't work if your outside the EU, I actually have a bug filed with them to allow it to be shown anywhere (as per user request) but they haven't responded yet.

    We don't have a condition for it yet, but we could add one. Stick a request on the feature tracker and so we can track the interest. It may have to be async due to the way we interact with the SDK.

    If I'm honest I don't know where they get the "is in EU" information from. We certainly don't request the location data permission from the device. Maybe they figure it out on the server side from network information?

  • We don't have a condition for it yet, but we could add one. Stick a request on the feature tracker and so we can track the interest. It may have to be async due to the way we interact with the SDK.

    Hi Nepeo, I added the request as you suggested and it got declined with the following response:

    The consent dialog is not always needed (it's only if you store/transmit personal information, which the runtime does not do by default). Additionally it's not easy to tell client-side if the user is in the EU or not; you basically need a geolocation service which can be done by a remote server based on the IP address. This solution is already possible and can't be built in to the engine as it depends on other services.

    So can we get some clarification regarding your previous post where you stated:

    As a developer you need to:

    1. ...
    2. add a button to your game ( either in settings or the start page ) to show the user consent dialog ( action on the mobile advert plugin )

    as there seems to be conflicting statements here? Is this step still required?

    Thanks in advance

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  • I think there may have been some crossed wires Ashley likely responded to your feature request but he doesn't directly work with the Admob SDK.

    According to Admob it is a legal requirement if you are releasing a game in the EEA ( European Economic Area ) with adverts to ask consent from the user for displaying personalised ads. Even if you are not collecting data yourself. This is because the ad framework would collect personally identifiable information from the user via your application. Once the user has given consent they must be allowed to revoke that consent at any time. Hence you should have a button within your application to show the consent dialog at some point after you have initially shown it.

    The consent SDK does include a method called "isRequestLocationInEeaOrUnknown" which would allow you to know if you should show the button. It doesn't require geolocation data.

    Further information can be read at Admob EU consent

  • Yes, for the purposes of Admob the plugin can already tell you if the user needs a prompt or not. The suggestion filed appeared to be for a generic way for the Construct engine to tell you this, which is what I declined.

  • Actually I just checked and the Admob plugin does not appear to expose that yet - Nepeo, how are users meant to detect if they should show the prompt or not? Don't we need to expose isRequestLocationInEeaOrUnknown?

  • It's exposed in the Admob SDK in the Java/Obj.C code, but we don't expose it to developers no. I believe that's what the feature was intended to request ( specifically in this context ).

  • Isn't it essential? How do people currently know if they should show the prompt?

  • They don't have to, it's shown automatically when the SDK is configured by the user ( if required ).

    The common use case of it would be if the developer should add a "show consent dialog" button to their settings screen so that users can update their preference. You could probably get away with not checking, but the dialog won't show itself if the user is not in the EEA.

  • Ah, OK, not a major concern then. LukeW - if you still think this is important please repost a suggestion specific to the AdMob plugin, your previous suggestion read like a general engine feature.

  • Having access to isRequestLocationInEeaOrUnknown would be ideal, so we could either hide our GDPR consent button or at least create our own popup to explain how it doesn't affect non-EU users. Otherwise non-EU users are seeing (or clicking) our GDPR consent button that doesn't do anything and has little to no context for them.

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