TAG (Trustworthy Accountability Group)

TAG was created to fight criminal activity and increase trust in digital advertising. Its founders were the three big US trade bodies: the ANA (advertisers), the 4A's (agencies) and the IAB (publishers and ad tech).

TAG runs several certification programs. TAG Certified Against Fraud requires companies to follow anti-fraud practices such as filtering invalid traffic and supporting ads.txt; others cover malware (malvertising), piracy and brand safety, and transparency. Companies that meet the requirements can display TAG seals. TAG also runs a registry that issues TAG IDs (which appear in ads.txt files as certification authority IDs) and threat-sharing programs across members, and works internationally, including through partners in Europe and Asia.

A related idea is the TAG Certified Channel, in which every participant in a supply path is certified. TAG publishes benchmark reports on fraud rates in certified versus non-certified channels. Certification shows that a company follows agreed processes; it is not a guarantee against all fraud.

Think of it like this

TAG is like a food-safety certification body for advertising: it inspects kitchens and hands out certificates, but you still wash your own vegetables.

An example

A buyer requires that every DSP, SSP and publisher in its programmatic plan is TAG Certified Against Fraud, and checks each company's status in the TAG registry.