IAB TCF (Transparency & Consent Framework)

The Transparency and Consent Framework is IAB Europe's standard for capturing a user's consent choices (which purposes and vendors they've allowed to process their data) and passing that consent signal, encoded as a TC string, through the programmatic supply chain so every party in the bid stream — publisher, SSP, DSP — respects the same consent decision. TCF 2.2 is the current version. GDPR compliance for CTV inventory served into the EU depends on correctly signaling and honoring TCF consent at every hop.