Google rolls out its user-facing ad controls globally

My Ad Center allows users to customize which data and preferences are used to target ads to them.

Google’s My Ad Center , has now rolled out globally.

First announced in May during the I/O developer conference, My Ad Center gives users more control over the kinds of ads they see on Google Search, Discover and YouTube, as well as the data used to personalize those ads.

During a press briefing, Karin Hennessy, lead product manager for user privacy and trust at Google, said the product would fundamentally be the same as the version first introduced in May.

“The core features have not changed,” Hennesy said. “There certainly have been changes around the content strategy in the explainer information and how we support that across languages and regions. We have used feedback to improve the comprehensibility and the ease of use.”

My Ad Center gives users expanded privacy controls to allow users more direct control over which data sources are used to personalize ads on Google services – specifically activity on web, apps and YouTube – or turn off personalization entirely. It also lets users manage which data can and cannot be used to target ads to them, including demographic data, age, relationship status, education or home ownership status.

Users also have the ability to customize which subjects they receive ads about, including limiting ads in sensitive categories like alcohol, dating, gambling, pregnancy, parenting and weight loss.

Ad disclosures have also been enhanced with new advertiser pages that show users who paid for an ad, which ads they have run over the past 30 days and which data was used to target it.

The controls are accessible to users through a central hub, as well as a new page linked from an ad itself, replacing the previous “About this Ad” page. The controls are also only applicable to ads on Google’s owned services, and not ads served elsewhere through its Ad Network.