DMA (Digital Markets Act): Everything you need to know!

DMA and compliance via ConsentMode V2 

Introduction to DMA

After the implementation of the RGPD in 2018, it's time to prepare for the arrival of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in Europe for spring 2024!

This new regulation complements the RGDP by seeking not to regulate all digital players, but only the digital behemoths such as Google, Meta and many others who enjoy a dominant position on the market, in order to guarantee greater fairness and "contestability" (letting in new entrants) of their position.

Fines can be as high as 10% of worldwide sales in the event of infringement, so compliance is vital for the major platforms.

However, if advertisers are not directly targeted by the regulation, there are immediate impacts on their ad-tech ecosystems, requiring the implementation of modifications (we tell you about the ConsentModeV2 case below) to continue accessing certain advertising services on these platforms.

In this article, we'll take you through the broad outlines of the DMA, its specific impact on the Google Marketing Platform (GMP) ecosystem, and how Welyft can help you navigate these waters by presenting the solution Google is pushing to adapt to the DMA.

DMA Key Measures

Let's start by better defining the DMA perimeter

The targets

The DMA calls its targets the "GateKeeper", the players we will often refer to as "the big platforms" who wield considerable power on the European digital market, the main identification criteria will have been:

• The ability to make a significant impact on the European market.
• Our position as a key intermediary between companies and end consumers.
• A solid, sustainable position in the services we offer.

These are, of course, the American GAFAMs: Google, Amazon, Facebook (Meta) Apple and Microsoft; and Byte Dance, owner of the TikTok app.

At the same time, 22 core platform services provided by these players have been identified.

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Source: European Commission

Today, we are focusing solely on the case of Google, which is proposing compliance to its customers, unlike Meta and Tiktok, who are contesting the measure.

The timeline

GateKeepers have until March 6, 2024 to comply with the main points of the regulation, those who have contested and triggered an investigation will have until August 2024.

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DMA obligations and prohibitions:

There are 8 major DNA measures, grouped into 2 families: obligations and prohibitions.

Here we take a look at 6 emblematic examples to illustrate the DMA:

1. Fairness of Products and Services

No more favoritism! Large platforms will no longer be able to give preference to their products or services over those of smaller challengers. No more obligation to subscribe to third-party services outside the platforms.

"We want a level playing field for everyone, from the little ones to the big ones!"

2. Freedom of Choice for Users

Imagine a world where the general public can choose Brave or Firefox as their preferred browser as easily as Chrome or Safari when you launch your phone. The DMA seeks to reduce user autonomy incentives to honor. At last, the power is back in users' hands!

3. Right to Uninstall

You won't be forced to do anything! With the DMA, the regulations will guarantee that you can say goodbye to pre-installed apps on your smartphone. And that's your freedom, after all!

4. Third-party access to data

The big platforms will have to open their doors to smaller sellers. No more "Wall Garden" ecosystems, where everything has to be analyzed on the giant's platform. This will encourage healthy competition, like in a good old local market. Is this a step in the right direction? We think so!

5. Freedom of subscription

The major platforms will no longer be able to prevent advertisers from promoting offers and services within their ecosystem that will be subscribed to outside that platform.

"This will give players like Spotify leverage to avoid having their customers pass through the platforms' 30% commission on their subscriptions."

6. Consent to end-user tracking and profiling.

This is the obligation with the greatest indirect impact for advertisers.

From now on, major platforms will have to prove that they have obtained user consent in order to carry out targeting actions outside their main service.

What's the difference?

If an Internet user can prove that he or she has been targeted on the network of a major platform by an advertiser without having given prior consent. Then he or she can have the platform condemned for non-compliance with the DMA.

Suffice to say, it's highly likely that by March 6, if advertisers don't guarantee that the major platforms will obtain this consent, they will block access to these targeting features.

So, with the loss of profiling and re-marketing, we can imagine a sharp drop in the performance of acquisition campaigns for advertisers who have not taken this regulatory change into account.

Google Facing the DMA: Focus on GMP

Google is at the heart of this regulation, as it holds a hegemonic position in the European digital ecosystem.

1. Google's dominant position

Google is so dominant that the DMA has its eyes on it. The rules are stricter for those with major influence, and Google has been influencing the market for many years now. Search, Youtube, Google Shopping, Google Play, Android Google Ads, Chrome, 7 of the 22 digital services targeted in the list are owned by Google.

It is also the first company to offer a compliance solution for digital advertising and targeting ahead of the March 6, 2024 deadline: ConsentMode.

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2. When do I have to comply?

The obligation to capture consent relates to 2 important areas of advertising targeting: The sharing of user information from the advertiser's site for profiling purposes (eg: demographic audiences) The authorization to personalize advertising on other sites through the Google network (eg: re-marketing).

"You're only concerned if you trigger a Google advertising tool on your site (Gads, or GA4 via the GAds connector), if not, no worries you're not concerned."

Thus, the connection between Google Analytics and Google Ads, which enables audiences to be shared for re-marketing campaigns, is squarely under the DMA's spotlight.

3. Google Consent Mode V2 as Answer

In 2020, Google released the Beta of Consent Mode, basically it was a post-RGPD tool that allowed anonymized information (pings) about users who refused consent to be fed back to Google Analytics and Google ads.

Using these "pings", Google tools can model the paths and conversions of users who have not consented, giving advertisers visibility into this blind spot.
In 2024, with V2 of consent mode, this modeling functionality still exists and is called Advanced mode. What changes is the basic mode, which is Google's answer to the DMA.

The basic mode will allow you to continue to use its advertising targeting tools. Google has added 2 elements compared to the V1 consent mode:

ad_user_data: to indicate whether the user has agreed to the sharing of personal information.

ad_personalization: to find out whether the data can be used to personalize ads.

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Key points to remember about Consent Mode V2: It's not a replacement for your CMP, it doesn't directly manage the capture of user information, it acts as a messenger to inform Google of the information selected within the CMP. Consent mode "Advanced" is not mandatory in ConsentMode V2. 

"It's likely that without ConsentMode V2 basic in place by March 6, 2024 Google will block your access to targeting advertising tools."

How can Welyft help you? 

As data-marketing experts, we're here to guide you through the regulatory maze of the DMA, so you don't find yourself without a solution by March 6, 2024.

Here's how we can help:

Setting up Consent Mode V2

We suggest you set up Consent Mode V2 Basic to maintain your access to personalized audiences.
The implementation is relatively simple at GTM level, the complexity lies mainly in updating the CMP.

1. Activate consentModeV2 within your CMP and capture the new consent granularities.
2. Activate "Consent overview" within GTM and select the tags concerned.
3. Creation of new consent variables within GTM
4. Google tags updated to take into account new variables and trigger conditions.
5. Implementation testing and validation.

If you have one of Google's partner CMPs, consent mode implementation is supported and facilitated, otherwise we have templates for you to use.

Consulting and setting up Advanced Mode

On average, 30% of users don't consent when they arrive on a site, so this creates a huge dead angel on their behavior and performance.

The aim of the Advanced mode is therefore to fill this blind spot by collecting anonymized pings that can be used as the basis for a model of their itinerary. 

We obtain richer conversion reports within GA and Google Ads that are closer to the reality of behavior on your site. However, this is still modelled and aggregated data, and is not representative of 100% of your users.

This powerful tool must obviously be the subject of an in-depth benefit/risk analysis by your DPO, as sending information to users who have not consented is a potentially sensitive subject.

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Conclusion

Taking the DMA into account is not an option from the moment you start advertising with Google.  

At Welyft, we're here to guide you with our data and CRO expertise.

Stay connected, stay informed, and prepare to be the masters of the game in this ever-changing regulatory landscape!

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