Consent-or-pay

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

1. Consent to the use of cookies and personal data for targeted advertising, or
2. Pay a recurring fee, usually a small monthly amount, to access the service without tracking.

The practice generated significant debate among regulators, policymakers, and consumer advocates alike and is viewed as undermining meaningful consent. Despite controversy, the model is being increasingly adopted by large online platforms and news organizations. As of August 2025, 16 of the 50 largest UK news websites had implemented consent-or-pay.

Background

Main article: General Data Protection Regulation

How it works

When a user visits a website, a pop-up consent window is displayed. Traditional options would be Accept or Reject cookies. However the user is presented with the options to Accept or Pay.

• The payment is typically a low fee (around £1.99 per month).
• Many of the sites that use the model were previously free-to-access and funded primarily through advertising.
• Consumers must now “pay” either with their personal data or with money.

This effectively introduces a paywall for previously freely accessible content even if no traditional subscription model exists.

Why it is a problem

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Point 1

Point 2

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Meta investigation and fine

After a year-long investigation by the European Commission, Meta was fined in April of 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. Consequently, Meta was fined with a 228 million Euro in the month of April, and in July, the European Commission warned that the social media company may face accrued daily fines.

Other uses

News organizations

Many media outlets adopted Consent-or-pay. Some High-profile european examples include:

• The Mirror
• The Independent
• Der Spiegel
• Der Standard
• Le Monde
• Le Parisien
• Corriere della Sera

Response

Criticisms from policymakers

In 2024, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) published an 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 equivalent alternative should not involve processing personal data. Any choice in which users feel compelled to consent does not qualify as valid consent.

Anu Talus, Chair of the EDPB, said:

“Online platforms should give users a real choice when employing ‘consent or pay’ models. The models we have today usually require individuals to either give away all their data or to pay. As a result most users consent to the processing in order to use a service, and they do not understand the full implications of their choices.”

Consumer advocates

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