What is the audit cookie?
The audit cookie is set by Magnite (formerly Rubicon Project) on the rubiconproject.com domain to record the user's cookie/consent status within its programmatic advertising platform.
Table of Contents
About audit
| Vendor | Magnite |
|---|---|
| Cookie Domain | rubiconproject.com |
| Category Category The functional category of the technology, such as Web Analytics or Social Media. Learn more | Data Management (DMP) |
| Consent Category Consent Category The consent category this cookie most commonly falls under across sites we scan, normalized into four standard categories. Learn more | Targeting & Advertising |
| Prevalence | Very Common |
| Popularity Popularity Popularity is calculated from our dataset of 4.5B+ cookies analyzed across hundreds of millions of web pages. Learn more | Found on 22% of scanned pages |
| Expiration Type | Timestamp |
| Expiration Duration | 30 days |
| Party Type Party Type Whether the cookie is first-party or third-party. Learn more | 3rd-Party |
| Risk Level Risk Level Rates how sensitive the data stored by this cookie is (High, Medium, or Low) based on data classification and distribution. Learn more | Medium |
| Vendor Privacy Policy | https://www.magnite.com/legal/platform-cookie-policy/ |
| Vendor Website | https://www.magnite.com/ |
What is the purpose of audit?
The audit cookie is a third-party cookie set by Magnite (formed by the merger of Rubicon Project and Telaria in 2020) via the rubiconproject.com domain, which Magnite continues to operate for its supply-side advertising platform. According to multiple cookie databases and publisher cookie disclosures, its documented purpose is to record cookie/consent data - i.e., to store the user's consent status so the platform knows whether consent has been given for tracking/advertising. The cookie value is an encoded token and the cookie is typically persistent for about one year. It exists within Magnite's broader programmatic advertising (SSP) ecosystem, where it supports consent handling alongside Magnite's other identifier and sync cookies (e.g., khaos, ruid).
What are the Privacy Risks of audit?
Risk Level: Medium
The audit cookie is a third-party cookie operating within Magnite's programmatic advertising platform on the rubiconproject.com domain. While its documented function is to record consent status and it does not store plaintext PII, it is a persistent third-party cookie tied to an advertising/SSP ecosystem that performs cross-site identity work and is consistently classified by CMPs as a targeting/advertising cookie. Because it is associated with pseudonymous cross-site advertising activity rather than purely strictly-necessary first-party functionality, a Medium risk level is appropriate - it is not high-risk PII sharing, but it is more than a purely functional/aggregate cookie.
How to Remove audit from a Website
To remove the audit cookie, website administrators must locate and remove the Magnite (formerly Rubicon Project) advertising tag, pixel, or related integration (e.g., the rubiconproject.com pixel/sync calls, or Prebid/Demand Manager integration) from their site's source code or Tag Management System. The cookie is set as part of Magnite's advertising platform operation and cannot be disabled independently of that integration, so eliminating it completely generally requires removing Magnite's service from the site. Administrators relying on Magnite for monetization should also confirm with their Magnite account/configuration whether any platform-side settings affect this cookie, but full removal effectively means discontinuing the Magnite integration.