Consent-or-pay: Difference between revisions

{{Incomplete|Issue 1=Improper citations in bottom half of article.|Issue 2=Needs elaboration}}

'''Consent-or-pay''' is a business tactic in response to the European Union's ''[[General Data Protection Regulation]]'' [[General Data Protection Regulation|(GDPR)]]. Under this model, users of a website must either:

After a year-long investigation by the European Commission, [[Meta]] was fined on 23 April 2025 for failing to comply with the [[Digital Markets Act]] (DMA). The European Commission's investigation targeted Meta's consent-or-pay model because it failed to meet the DMA's criteria of reducing personalized data for targeted ads and it does not allow users to freely consent.<ref>{{Cite web |date=30 Jun 2024 |title=Commission sends preliminary findings to Meta over its "Pay or Consent" model for breach of the Digital Markets Act |url=https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_3582 |website=European Commission}}</ref> Consequently, Meta was fined with €228 million in the month of April, and in July, the European Commission warned that the social media company may face accrued daily fines if they continue employing this tactic.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Foo Yun Chee |title=Meta may face daily fines over pay-or-consent model, EU warns |url=https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/meta-will-only-make-limited-changes-pay-or-consent-model-eu-says-2025-06-27/ |date=27 Jun 2025 |access-date=1 Sep 2025 |website=Reuters |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.is/WlLFg |archive-date=1 Sep 2025}}</ref>

In 2024, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) published a non-binding opinion on "Valid Consent in the Context of Consent or Pay Models Implemented by Large Online Platforms." The EDPB denotes that the consent-or-pay model does not constitute as valid consent and that appropriate alternative measures to the model should provide users with an "equivalent alternative". Additionally, they say that if a company wishes to use a payment model, then the opposing equal alternative should not involve processing personal data. Any choice in which users feel compelled to consent does not qualify as valid consent.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=17 Apr 2024 |title=EDPB: 'Consent or Pay' models should offer real choice |url=https://www.edpb.europa.eu/news/news/2024/edpb-consent-or-pay-models-should-offer-real-choice_en |access-date=1 Sep 2025 |url-status=live |website=European Data Protection Board}}</ref>  

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Example Text<ref>{{Cite web |last=Illman |first=Erin Jane |date=29 Jul 2024 |title=Can Privacy Be Bought? How Scrutiny of Meta's Subscription Model Has Wider Implications –PART II |url=https://natlawreview.com/article/can-privacy-be-bought-how-scrutiny-metas-subscription-model-has-wider-0 |website=The National Law Review}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=28 Nov 2023 |title=noyb files GDPR complaint against Meta over "Pay or Okay" |url=https://noyb.eu/en/noyb-files-gdpr-complaint-against-meta-over-pay-or-okay |website=noyb}}</ref>

*Advertising Week reports only 30% of users accept the cookies after the GDPR<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mititelu |first=Andra |title=As the Open Marketplace Fails, Advertisers Are Turning to Publishers to Reach Audiences |url=https://advertisingweek.com/as-the-open-marketplace-fails-advertisers-are-turning-to-publishers-to-reach-audiences/ |website=Advertising Week |date=2023

|access-date=1 Sep 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927212627/https://advertisingweek.com/as-the-open-marketplace-fails-advertisers-are-turning-to-publishers-to-reach-audiences/ |archive-date=27 Sep 2023}}</ref>

*(2023) According to The Drum, as much as 40% of users simply use a {{Wplink|VPN service|VPN}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Connell |first=Vanessa |title=70% of consumers blocking cookies online, research shows |url=https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2023/05/09/70-consumers-blocking-cookies-online-research-shows |website=The Drum |date=9 May 2023 |access-date=1 Sep 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230511090722/https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2023/05/09/70-consumers-blocking-cookies-online-research-shows |archive-date=11 May 2023}}</ref>

*(PG 2025) Meanwhile, "When users are equally offered the chance to "accept all" or "reject all" cookies, consent rates are typically somewhere around 70-80%, according to both Skovgaards and Contentpass founder Dirk Freytag.<ref name="Press Gazette" />

The Guardian develops a new "contextual advertising" model that bases ads upon whatever page the user is currently viewing (i.e. food ingredients on a recipe page). They say, "It's a perfect advertising product for a privacy conscious brand and a brand doing the right thing." They report a 35% increase in clicks.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Maher |first=Bron |title=Guardian gets around readers who reject cookies with new advertising product |url=https://pressgazette.co.uk/marketing/guardian-light-reject-cookies-advertising-stereotype/ |url-access=limited |website=Press Gazette |date=21 Nov 2023 |access-date=1 Sep 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231128184011/https://pressgazette.co.uk/marketing/guardian-light-reject-cookies-advertising-stereotype/ |archive-date=28 Nov 2023}}<nowiki>}}</nowiki></ref>