• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer, April 7, 2026

Google will update AdSense in a two-phased approach that will begin mid-month. The second phase will update in June.

The test is a two-phase approach, and creates a new "shortcut" list of advertising partners while still following strict European privacy laws.

The first phase begins April 20, and revolves around the way Google AdSense handles user privacy and advertiser bidding in the European Economic Area (EEA) of the U.K. and Switzerland. The second update occurs around June.

Publishers that do not manage an ad-technology partner list of their own rely on this option to determine the companies permitted to serve and measure ads under GDPR.

As the list changes, so do consents. The list can be viewed as a gatekeeper for compliance checkpoints and revenue optimization options as Google attempts to find better choices for advertisers. 

Publishers can find the up-to-date version of the list at Manage your ad technology partners (ATPs). A dashboard in the privacy and messaging section of an AdSense account allows users to view and manage the ad-technology partners participating in a specific regulations test.

Users can choose between a list of Google-managed "Commonly used" partners or create a "Custom" list to maintain control over advertising partners and privacy compliance.

Users can opt out by selecting the "do not automatically include commonly used ad partners" setting. This creates a custom that is pre-filled list with the publisher's current selections, but can be modified if needed.

For those using a third-party CMP to collect GDPR consent, the list of ad-tech partners is managed through the provider.

Publishers will have the ability to see partners that are part of the experiment by viewing the dashboard inside their AdSense account.

Marketers or publishers can view the list of current ad-technology partners, and those participating in the experiment, in the Privacy & Messaging tab under the European regulation settings page in the "Your ad partners" menu.

While these changes take effect in the EU, Google does provide similar rules in the United States. U.S. advertisers cannot use the "European regulations" message for U.S. traffic, but they can manage similar ad-partner controls through the U.S. state regulations settings.

In the same Privacy & Messaging tab for U.S. settings, there is a separate card for U.S. state regulations covering laws in states like California, Virginia and others.

Unlike Europe's "consent" model, U.S. platforms use Restricted Data Processing. This allows those in certain states to limit data use so only non-personalized ads are served.

Many of the same ad-technology partners operate in both regions, but the way they handle data differs based on the regulations in a specific area.