Question

When the consent value is empty or absent and UNSPECIFIED (or nothing) is sent for ad_user_data_consent_state or ad_personalization_consent_state, what is the default behavior in Segment? Is the event still forwarded to Google Ads?

Product

Segment

Environment

Segment Console

Answer

When consent values are empty, absent, or mapped as UNSPECIFIED for ad_user_data_consent_state or ad_personalization_consent_state, Segment’s default behavior is to forward the event to Google Ads. Segment does not block or drop the event in this scenario; the consent signal is passed through to Google Ads, and enforcement is handled by Google.

Additional Information 

Events are only blocked by Segment if consent is explicitly DENIED. For more information, refer to Segment documentation on consent mapping and Google Ads Conversions destination.