> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.mediarithmics.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.mediarithmics.io/audience-and-activation/build-your-audiences/enforce-compliance-on-your-audience.md).

# Enforce compliance on your audience

Attach processing activities to a segment so user choices are respected before anyone is included or activated.

## Your goal

Make sure a segment only ever contains users whose choices permit the use you intend, and that the permission is enforced by the platform rather than by convention.

## Expected outcome

A segment carrying one or more processing activities, with the platform checking user choices before including a user - and feeds deleting users from partner platforms when a choice changes in a way that makes them incompatible with the segment.

## When this is useful

Before any activation. Processing activity, user choice, and the privacy wall are defined in the **Setup & Monitor** section, under *Manage consent & Processing activities*. This page covers what those concepts mean **on a segment**, which is where the behaviour is specific and easy to get wrong.

## Steps

{% stepper %}
{% step %}

### Open the segment wizard

In the segment creation or edition wizard, find the **User Choices** section and click **Add Processing Activity**.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Select the activities

Select the processing activity, or activities, that justify the creation of this segment.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Save

Click **Save** to apply the configuration. From this moment, the platform checks user choices before including end users in the segment.
{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}

## What the platform then does

The check point depends on the segment type, and the difference is not cosmetic.

<table data-search="false"><thead><tr><th width="200">Segment type</th><th>How consent is enforced</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><a href="/audience-and-activation/build-your-audiences/segment-reference/segment-types/query-segment.md"><strong>Query</strong></a></td><td>Implicit conditions are added to the segment query, so it only scans users with compatible user choices. Enforcement happens <strong>at computation</strong>.</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/audience-and-activation/build-your-audiences/segment-reference/segment-types/list-import-segment.md"><strong>List</strong></a></td><td>User choices are checked <strong>before the user is added</strong> to the segment.</td></tr></tbody></table>

{% hint style="info" %}
The consequence for a Query segment: attaching a processing activity changes the query, so the segment has to be computed again before its population reflects the new rule.
{% endhint %}

## Combining several choices

This is the asymmetry to remember, because the two cases pull in opposite directions.

{% columns %}
{% column %}

### On a segment: AND

If you add several choices to a segment, the user choices must be compatible with **all** the processing activities. You are using the AND condition between choices.
{% endcolumn %}

{% column %}

### On a channel: OR

For a channel, choices from **at least one** processing activity must be valid for data to be ingested. You are using the OR condition between choices.
{% endcolumn %}
{% endcolumns %}

{% hint style="warning" %}
**Worked through.** A segment carrying two processing activities, `Analytics` and `Advertising`, includes only users who have valid choices for both - a user who consented to analytics alone is excluded. A channel carrying the same two activities ingests data from a user who consented to either one.
{% endhint %}

## Three segment types cannot carry a processing activity

{% hint style="danger" %}
User choices are **not supported** on [Campaign](/audience-and-activation/build-your-audiences/segment-reference/segment-types/campaign-segment.md), [Lookalike](/audience-and-activation/build-your-audiences/segment-reference/segment-types/cohort-lookalike-segment.md) and [Edge](/audience-and-activation/build-your-audiences/segment-reference/segment-types/edge-segment.md) segments.
{% endhint %}

That does not mean consent stops mattering on them - Edge follows the same consent management requirements as the rest of the platform, and an unconsented user's tag does not fire at all. It means the *segment-level* mechanism is unavailable, so compliance for those audiences has to be handled upstream: at collection, in the channel's processing activities, or in the segment they derive from.

## What happens when a choice changes later

Consent is not only checked on the way in. A live [feed](/audience-and-activation/activate-your-audiences/set-up-a-destination/feed.md) sends **delete operations** for users leaving the segment - and that includes users who updated their user choice in a way that makes it incompatible with being in the segment, where you chose to use a processing activity when defining it.

{% hint style="info" %}
This is the practical reason to attach the processing activity to the segment rather than filtering the audience yourself before import: the deletion path back to the partner only exists if the platform knows the rule.
{% endhint %}

## Verification

* The segment's **User Choices** section lists the processing activities you expect.
* For a Query segment, the user count after the next computation reflects the restriction.
* On an activated segment, delete operations appear in the feed's stats as choices change. See [Track a feed](/audience-and-activation/activate-your-audiences/track-a-feed-stats-and-troubleshoot.md).

## Related pages

<table data-view="cards" data-search="false"><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th data-hidden data-card-target data-type="content-ref"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Segment types</strong></td><td>Which type you are dealing with, and what that constrains.</td><td><a href="/audience-and-activation/build-your-audiences/segment-reference/segment-types.md">Segment types</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Feed</strong></td><td>Upserts, deletes, and what a live feed actually sends.</td><td><a href="/audience-and-activation/activate-your-audiences/set-up-a-destination/feed.md">Feed</a></td></tr></tbody></table>


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