We've detected an issue IAB TC string. 10 WEEKS NOW

[Senechal]

Like many others, I have a persistent problem with GDPR compliance.

For more than 10 weeks I've had this warning message:

We've detected an issue on your IAB TC string on one or more of your sites or apps. These errors may affect your ability to serve ads to European users. A detailed report is available for you on the EU user consent page.

When I download the TCF Error Report, I get the following 2-line report:

Domain  | Ad unit  | Error. | Error count | Last detected date
myDomain.com | 123456789. | 3.3. | 20  | 8/15/2023
myDomain.com | Unknown. | 3.3. | 20  | 8/19/2023

Nothing I do has been successful at removing this message.

The 3.3 Error Code suggests that I need to reobtain consent as the consent string has expired.

• I have already (twice now) re-obtained consent but the warning message persists.
  
• I also tried using a third-party consent manager (CookieYes!) for my consent string, and the message in AdSense persisted for weeks. (And my Core Web Vitals became horrendous, btw).
  
• Now I'm back to using AdSense's built-in consent manager and the message still hits me in the face every time I log into AdSense
  

This is concerning of course, because the warning message suggests I'm losing EU revenue. (Which my anemic current revenue numbers would seem to suggest)

I'm out of ideas.

How do I make this message go away? Anyone?

[CommandDork]

I always wait these msgs out. They usually clear up by themselves. Mine's been up for a few months now.

[LucasPerez]

There are two different notices of the AI TCF

1-One is based on the fact that fixed block ads overlap the automatic ones, these ads disappear in 7 days without doing anything

[webmasterworld.com...]

2.-But there is another notice, what you have to do is deactivate the privacy policy in automatic ads for exactly two hours, (so that the bot can review it) and then activate it again, the notice will go away after 7-8 days .

Why? Because the IAB TCF GDPR has become outdated

[Senechal]

@LucasPerez Okay, I tried your 2nd solution yesterday. I un-published the policy for 2+ hours and then re-published it. I'm skeptical, but I hope you're right.The inability to serve to EU users is most likely hurting my earnings.

[LucasPerez]

@Senéchal that once you do this, don't touch it anymore, if you touch it more times the warning will continue, leave it for a period of 7 or 8 days.

It worked for me.

A webmaster commented on it in the Adsense community in Spanish:
[support.google.com...]

But he said just disabling 10 minutes, with 10 minutes it doesn't work because Adsense boot happens every 2-3 hours, and that's when he sees it.

I hope it works for you, and tell us.

[Senechal]

@LucasPerez Ok, will do. I have to say I'm hopeful but skeptical because I already forced re-consent and waited 10-14 days a couple times already. Then I returned to AdSense's consent platform (which already involved republishing the consent string) and waited a couple weeks. Anyway, now I've unpublished and re-published (a few hours later) per your advice, and I'm waiting. I'll re-post to this space in a few days.

[LucasPerez]

@Senéchal if you've already done it, don't touch it again, mark the calendar, don't touch it, it worked for me (it's never come out again).

It worked for the people who did it well.

But if you touch it again, it will count from zero, and that's why it doesn't seem to work, please don't touch anything, in 7 or 8 days.

You'll see how it works for you.

[Senechal]

@LucasPerez Yep. Understood. And thx for the advice. I'm not touching a thing. I'll let you know how it goes.

[LucasPerez]

Okay! @Senéchal informs I will thank you

[Senechal]

So far, @LucasPerez's solution hasn't panned out. The warning message is still there. It's been 7 days. I'll give it a couple more days. But so far, no change.

[edited by: Senechal at 12:58 pm (utc) on Sep 2, 2023]

[Senechal]

@LucasPerez: This is also the 4th or 5th time this has actually been tried btw, because I switched to another CMP, and back, and also forced re-consents on AdSense.

[LucasPerez]

@Senéchal I have realized that the more you touch it, and change it, the longer it takes for everything to get better, try to go a month without touching anything.

Yesterday I put non-personalized ads, and the Adsense panel yesterday and today frozen, I already told you that it is better not to touch anything, Adsense seems to punish for changing.

If, for example, you make 5 changes in a month, it will not work until the following month, or more.

It's not like before when you made a change and saw the update immediately.

[Senechal]

Thanks for the help @LucasPerez, but I've gone for a month. It's 11 weeks of the message now. There should really never be an AdSense Setting that takes an entire month to start working.

I think it's pretty clear that this is either super buggy or we simply don't understand what additional factors make this message appear.

What we know now, I feel pretty conclusively, is that simply re-publishing the message after a few hours and waiting for a week may not be enough. There must be some other issue at work here. (Or again, it's broken).

[Senechal]

Maybe it would be useful to also mention that I also get this message on every page:

Beginning January 16, 2024, Google will require all publishers serving ads to EEA and UK users to use a Google-certified Consent Management Platform (CMP). You can use any Google-certified CMP for this purpose, including Google's own consent management solution. If you are interested in using Google's consent management solution, start by setting up your GDPR message.

This also makes no sense, as I have already created and published the GDPR message.

[not2easy]

There is a new and different consent for EEA and UK posted here last May: [webmasterworld.com...]

[LucasPerez]

From this GDPR message. Don't worry, I have been informed and they will delete it exactly on the corresponding date January 16, 2024, that is, it will always come out until that date, you have to see it every day so you don't forget.

Sometimes it doesn't come out and other times it does, but it will come out until the corresponding date.

[Senechal]

@LucasPerez - Informed by whom?

The issue is that there's obviously a bug with the 3.3 error code that many users are seeing. It doesn't look like the GDPR stuff is working as intended.

[Senechal]

UPDATE:

I now see a new warning message in AdSense:

Screenshot here:
[imgur.com...]

It says very clearly that I am NOT currently serving a GDPR consent message.

What's going on? I DO have a published message, and have had a published message for over a year. They were last updated over a month ago. They have a published consent rate.

Google, this is a buggy mess!

Screenshot here:
[imgur.com...]


This is Google right now:
[youtube.com...]

[guarriman3]

I've got the same warning message. I've decided to follow their recommendations to create a new GDPR consent message, and Google tells me "hey, you had already one running, do you want to overwrite it?"

It's super annoying :-/

Please, come on, someone from Google in the forum?

[CommandDork]

Ya, and there is no indication that, if you split ad space with another Adsense publisher, that you BOTH need to have a GDPR msg for the same web property or if one covering the domain is sufficient.

So will visitors be seeing two GDPR consent msgs if both accounts run it?

[LucasPerez]

@Senechal I read it in one of the Adsense forums, a moderator wrote it but I have searched for it so you can see it and I can't find it now, I read your message late.

[LucasPerez]

@Senechal
The GDPR may be configured incorrectly, look at this Twitter link that was posted today, September 8, to see if you have it configured correctly, I had it incorrectly, for example.

[twitter.com...]

Perhaps because it is incorrectly configured, the Adsense GDPR notice does not disappear.

[dolcevita]

@LucasPerez
You mean by Privacy and messaging > GDPR
in the bottom change purpose from 0 (not used) to 9 (consent)?

"Add purposes for your own use
Impacts messages
If you use your site users' data for your own purpose, select the reasons for using that personal data and the lawful basis
0 purposes selected"

Are you sure that it is reason. From my 7 sites i got sometime 3.3 error only for one site and only for some adsense unit. Other 4 receive 3.3 error not.

btw
Marina said:"Bruno! I have seen the video, the problem is that legitimate interest is not a valid basis for processing user data for advertising purposes, only consent is valid as a legitimate basis."

But most of us have by default (i think) selected "Not used" any instead of Legitimate interest or Consent (bottom line of Privacy and messaging - GDPR - Add purposes for your own use)

[LucasPerez]

@dolcevita, there is a new Spanish Adsense forum message, with the video included in case you want to see it on September 9, 2023:

[support.google.com...]

[Senechal]

@LucasPerez "Add purposes for your own use" is not an example of being "misconfigured". Those are purposes that you must include if your own internal ad serving is making use of personal data.

For the vast majority of AdSense users the correct setup is to have everything in the "Not Used" column selected.

FYI -- You *can* use this section to intentionally force re-consent. Adding anything to the middle column will force a re-consent — but if you're wondering if this is a solution to the 3.3 Error bug, no it apparently isn't.

[LucasPerez]

@Senechal true what you say
But everything helps to understand and learn, that's why it's good to share.

[Senechal]

I just received an interesting message directly from AdSense Support, and thought I'd share as it sheds light on this GDPR warning... but also leaves many questions:

Thank you for your email.

If you're utilizing Google's CMP in its standard form without mixing it with other CMPs and have implemented it correctly, there's no action you can take to resolve the 3.3 error. The red banner notification will appear even if there's a minor percentage of expired TC strings, so if you are using Google's CMP, you can safely disregard this error message.

However, if you're using a third-party CMP, it's advisable to review and verify the implementation of that CMP. We cannot offer guidance on third-party CMP implementations, as it falls outside our area of expertise.

Let me know if there's anything else I can help you with!"

So, from what I gather here, for users like me who are using Google's CMP exclusively:

• 1 or 2 expired consents out of thousands of visitors will trigger the 3.3 warning.
  
• There is no mechanism for resolving this error built into AdSense's platform.
  
• You can ignore this message.
  

Unfortunately this answer raises a couple of obvious questions:

• The warning message says that it is impacting my ad-serve to European visitors. When they say I can "safely disregard" this message, does that mean that AdSense is, in fact, serving ads to European customers? Or are they just telling me to live with my reduced revenue?
  
• More importantly —why? Why does their system work in this ridiculous way, where just a handful expired consents results in an error message. One would think, first off, that Google would automatically re-obtain consent whenever a user's consent expired. Secondly, one would think that they wouldn't warn you for something you can't do anything about.
  

As a career coder and UI/UX designer, these kinds of persistent issues from a company like Google amaze me. This is a glaring error that has persisted for months, and would seem to be fixable with an hour or so of coding.

Furthermore, why did it take months of pestering Google for a response to get this barely sufficient response that leaves more questions than it does answers?