IAB Tech Lab Launches Transparency Center to Combat Fraud and Enable Accountability and Compliance in the Digital Advertising Supply Chain

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Aug 12, 2021, 08:30 ET

NEW YORK, Aug. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- IAB Tech Lab today announced the initial launch of its Tech Lab Transparency Center (Transparency Center). Its goal is to provide a resource that makes it easy for digital advertising participants -- buyers, sellers, and ad tech companies -- to see which standards media partners have implemented, their level of compliance, certification program results, and more. This will help ensure a safe, privacy-centric ad experience for consumers.

"The Transparency Center has been designed and built to provide a single source of truth that ensures a safe and reliable transaction between buyer and seller. This is the first iteration and it will continue to evolve and grow over time, and add more programs and resources to serve the entire advertising ecosystem," said Anthony Katsur, CEO, IAB Tech Lab. "Ultimately we aim to have buyers and sellers leverage the Transparency Center to ensure that they are working with responsible partners that utilize standards to combat fraud and enable privacy-compliant ad targeting in a cookie-less ecosystem."

The IAB Tech Lab Transparency Center will initially include the following components:

Supply Chain Validation will now reside within the Transparency Center. It aggregates metadata about the supply chain, including ads.txt (authorized digital sellers), sellers.json, as well as other supply chain management tools
Global Industry Compliance Registry, which provides detailed industry compliance and certification status of supply chain partners around the world
Advertising System Aggregation, which identifies information about supply chain partners across different advertising systems as well as their business classification

"To improve transparency within our industry, we need a global and coordinated effort that complements how advertisers work – across different markets and continents. This is why we are providing information regarding companies that have qualified for the Gold Standard as part Tech Lab's Global Compliance Registry. We look forward to working with Tech Lab and the Transparency Center to build on progress to date and create a more mutually-supportive, transparent, sustainable digital ecosystem," said Tim Elkington, Chief Digital Officer, IAB UK.

"Until now, it was nearly impossible to find comprehensive information about a seller or the companies they work with," said Tara Ibach, Lead Technical Solutions Consultant, MoPub. "We believe the IAB Tech Lab Transparency Center will provide publishers with even more confidence in their partners and increase their ability to grow with confidence."

The Tech Lab Transparency Center is part of an ongoing push to increase visibility and cross-industry collaboration and compliance within digital advertising. It will continue to expand over time to offer more programs and resources. The Tech Lab Transparency Center launched on the heels of the IAB Tech Lab's Open Source Initiative, which makes all open source projects and code available in one place.

For more information on the Transparency Center, visit https://iabtechlab.com/transparency-center/ and join us for a webinar on August 25 (or August 26 if you are located in Asia-Pacific time zones).

About IAB Technology Laboratory
Established in 2014, the IAB Technology Laboratory (Tech Lab) is a non-profit consortium that engages a member community globally to develop foundational technology and standards that enable growth and trust in the digital media ecosystem. Comprised of digital publishers, ad technology firms, agencies, marketers, and other member companies, IAB Tech Lab focuses on solutions for brand safety and ad fraud; identity, data, and consumer privacy; ad experiences and measurement; and programmatic effectiveness. Its work includes the OpenRTB real-time bidding protocol, ads.txt anti-fraud specification, Open Measurement SDK for viewability and verification, VAST video specification, and Project Rearc initiative for privacy-centric addressability. Board members/companies are listed at https://iabtechlab.com/about-the-iab-tech-lab/tech-lab-leadership/. For more information, please visit https://iabtechlab.com.

SOURCE IAB Tech Lab