openrtb.regs.us_privacy_malformed
What it means
The us_privacy string does not match the IAB US Privacy (CCPA) shape: the version character "1" followed by three characters, each Y, N, or a hyphen, covering notice given, opt-out of sale, and LSPA coverage. "1YNN" and "1---" are valid; "yes" and "1YN" are not.
Why it matters
Buyers parse the string positionally. A malformed value cannot be parsed, so CCPA-conscious buyers treat the signal as missing and default to the restrictive path on California traffic.
How to fix it
Emit exactly four characters from the defined alphabet. Note the ecosystem is migrating this signal into GPP (the string also travels as a GPP section); if you send both, keep them consistent.
Example that trips it
{ "regs": { "ext": { "us_privacy": "1Y" } } }Check your payload
Paste a bid request or response into the tester to see whether this code fires against it, or gate on the id in CI with the CLI: the id is stable, wording is not.
Back to the full diagnostic code reference.