Does your website use third-party services? Get GDPR compliant in minutes.
Try FlowConsentFree plan · 10-min setup
Hashtag Labs is an ad operations and yield optimisation company that runs prebid header bidding wrappers and ad tech infrastructure for digital publishers.
Hashtag Labs is an ad operations consultancy and technology vendor that helps premium publishers operate header bidding wrappers, yield optimisation, and ad quality monitoring. The integration typically deploys a customised prebid.js wrapper, an ad refresh module, and analytics scripts that report performance to a dashboard.
The Hashtag Labs wrapper sets a first party cookie for its own analytics (htl_uid, twelve months) and orchestrates third party cookies from every SSP and DSP in the bidding chain (Index Exchange, Magnite, OpenX, Xandr, Google AdX, Criteo, and others). User identifiers, IP addresses, and contextual signals are exchanged during each auction.
The legal basis for header bidding is explicit consent under Art. 6(1)(a) of the GDPR combined with Art. 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive. The Belgian DPA decision on IAB Europe (February 2022) confirms that legitimate interest cannot be used for behavioural advertising or for the TCF consent string.
Get GDPR compliant in 10 minutes
Free plan available · No credit card required
Hashtag Labs is US based. Bid data, IP, and identifiers may flow to dozens of US bidders. Transfers rely on Standard Contractual Clauses and the EU, US Data Privacy Framework where applicable. The Schrems II decision still requires you to assess the level of protection on a case by case basis.
The Hashtag Labs wrapper consumes the TC string produced by your CMP and passes it to every bidder. Verify that your CMP is a TCF v2.2 registered vendor, that the global vendor list is updated daily, and that no bidder fires before consent. Honour Global Privacy Control.
Sign a DPA with Hashtag Labs that maps every SSP they enable as a sub processor. Block prebid until consent. Retain TC strings for at least the cookie duration. Review the bidder list quarterly and document the international transfer chain in your privacy notice.
Websites using Hashtag Labs must obtain user consent under GDPR regulations.
DPIA considerations
A DPIA is recommended because Hashtag Labs orchestrates real time bidding with multiple DSPs, which triggers Art. 35(3)(b) of the GDPR for behavioural profiling at scale.
Sample consent text
We use Hashtag Labs to optimise advertising on this site. With your consent, Hashtag Labs and our bidding partners may set cookies and share data to deliver and measure ads.
Third-party domains contacted
hashtaglabs.comcdn.hashtaglabs.comanalytics.hashtaglabs.comsecurepubads.g.doubleclick.netCookies placed
| Name | Type | Duration | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| htl_uid | first_party | 12 months | Hashtag Labs analytics visitor identifier |
| htl_sess | first_party | Session | Session identifier for analytics correlation |
| htl_tcf | first_party | 13 months | Caches the TCF v2.2 consent string for fast lookup |
| _pbjs | first_party | 30 days | Prebid wrapper state and bidder timeouts |
Hashtag Labs places tracking cookies for advertising — comply with GDPR using FlowConsent.
First party cookies htl_uid (twelve months), htl_sess (session), htl_tcf (thirteen months), and _pbjs (thirty days). The wrapper also enables many third party SSP and DSP cookies.
Yes. The wrapper enables behavioural advertising and requires explicit prior consent under Art. 5(3) ePrivacy and Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR.
Explicit consent. Legitimate interest is not acceptable for behavioural advertising or for the TCF consent signal.
Yes. The wrapper relays data to many US bidders. Use SCCs and the EU, US Data Privacy Framework and document the chain.
Yes, due to large scale profiling and onward sharing across many vendors.
Sign a DPA covering every SSP, block prebid until consent, pass TC string at each auction, audit bidders quarterly.
Server side prebid with reduced data sharing, contextual advertising (Seedtag, Adnami), or direct programmatic deals.
List htl_ cookies, the hashtaglabs.com domains, every bidder enabled in your wrapper, and link to their TCF entries.