IAB Europe's Guide to Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs) in Digital Advertising

Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs) offer new opportunities to strengthen privacy and data security while enabling the insights and innovation that support digital advertising.

As the industry explores more privacy-preserving approaches to data processing, understanding how these technologies work, where they are being applied and how they can be assessed is increasingly important.

IAB Europe's Guide to Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs) in Digital Advertising provides a practical overview of the technologies, their applications and their role within the current regulatory landscape.

Developed to support both policymakers and industry stakeholders, the Guide explores:

• Key PETs and how they work, including differential privacy, federated learning, secure multi-party computation and trusted execution environments.
• Regulatory recognition, examining how PETs are currently acknowledged by regulators and institutions.
• Auditability and accountability, outlining approaches to verifying PET systems and their data-processing activities.
• Practical industry applications, with real-world examples of PETs supporting advertising measurement and audience targeting.
• Common misconceptions, addressing questions and concerns about the use of PETs in digital advertising.
• Policy recommendations, exploring how PETs could be better recognised and encouraged within the EU regulatory framework.

Written primarily for regulators and policymakers, the Guide provides a practical reference for understanding PETs and considers how these technologies could be better recognised within the EU regulatory framework. It is also relevant to the digital advertising industry, encouraging a shared approach to auditability and greater understanding of how PETs can support privacy-preserving advertising practices.

We welcome your questions and feedback on the Guide to PETs in Digital Advertising. If you’d like to find out more or share your views, please contact Lucio Gagliardi, Digital Advertising Product Manager, at gagliardi@iabeurope.eu.

Download the Guide below.