Observed Signal · Sep 17, 2026 · Policy Update · Source: https://iabtechlab.com/feed/ · Impact: 4/5 · Sentiment: Positive
IAB Tech Lab Defends ads.txt Against adagents.json Proposal
IAB Tech Lab's Senior Director of Programmatic, Hillary Slattery, published a rebuttal to a proposed 'adagents.json' standard, arguing that the existing ads.txt, sellers.json, and Supply Chain Object specifications already provide comprehensive supply path validation. She refutes claims that ads.txt lacks property identification, country-level authorization, and direct path marking, noting these are supported via OWNERDOMAIN, sub-domains, and DIRECT/RESELLER fields. Slattery warns that a new unverified standard could disrupt the ecosystem and emphasizes the importance of dual-verification for DSPs to block unauthorized sellers. She encourages industry collaboration through the Programmatic Supply Chain Working Group and highlights Jounce Media's research showing 98% of bid streams enable independent validation of directness.
IAB Tech Lab's defense of ads.txt and sellers.json against a proposed new standard impacts the entire programmatic ecosystem, reinforcing the importance of established supply chain validation mechanisms.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- adagents.json has been proposed as a new standard to replace ads.txt, but IAB Tech Lab argues it is unnecessary and inaccurate.
- ads.txt supports property identification via the OWNERDOMAIN field and sub-domain structure for country-level authorization.
- The Supply Chain Object provides an audit trail of bid request paths, complementing ads.txt and sellers.json.
- Jounce Media research indicates 98% of bid streams enable independent validation of directness.
- IAB Tech Lab has closed public comment on a change to ads.txt and is open to new proposals.
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
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