Certificate for privacy-compliant programmatic advertising: Virtual Minds is the first adtech provider to receive the “ePrivacy Vendor Compliance Seal”

Freiburg, Germany, July 06, 2023 – Virtual Minds, the leading European technology provider for programmatic advertising, has become the first adtech company to receive the “ePrivacy Vendor Compliance Seal”. The seal of approval, awarded by the Hamburg-based data protection auditing company ePrivacy, confirms the data protection compliance and security of the Yieldlab (supply-side platform (SSP), including Adition ad servers) and Active Agent (demand-side platform (DSP)) platforms developed for programmatic media commerce. Publishers, advertisers and agencies that rely on Virtual Minds’ programmatic technologies can thus be confident of compliance with all data protection rules applicable in Europe for the processing of personal data in the context of automated media trading.

The accredited data protection experts at ePrivacy, which is recognized among other things as an expert test center for law and technology at the Independent State Center for Data Protection Schleswig-Holstein, have developed a comprehensive testing and certification procedure for the new “ePrivacy Vendor Compliance Seal”. This procedure enables publishers and marketers in particular to transparently and validly demonstrate the data privacy compliance of the programmatic technologies they use.

The technical service providers (vendors) undergo an audit in which a total of seven areas – legal basis, transparency and data subject rights, data security, documentation requirements, international data transfer, use and processing of TCF signals, and TCF registration and processes – are examined and evaluated on the basis of 38 criteria. The award of the seal confirms compliance with the IAB Europe Transparency and Consent Framework 2.0 (soon to be TCF 2.2), related aspects of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Telecommunications and Telemedia Data Protection Act (TTDSG) of 2021.

Prof. Christoph Bauer, CEO of ePrivacy, explains, “Yieldlab, Adition and Active Agent are the first programmatic platforms to meet the high requirements of the ‘ePrivacy Vendor Compliance Seal’ so well that the seal could now be awarded. With the early certification as privacy-compliant digital solutions, Virtual Minds proves its pioneering role in technology-driven data protection and for forward-looking online marketing.”

“High-quality data protection is and remains a fundamental success factor for digital advertising,” underpins Dirk von Borstel, Managing Director Virtual Minds. “With the ‘ePrivacy Vendor Compliance Seal’ now received, Virtual Minds, as a leading European technology provider, underlines its claim and its efforts to actively promote and support corresponding legal standards in the context of Programmatic Advertsing.”