Consent-or-pay

Consent-or-pay, also known as consent-or-okay, is a business model implemented in response to the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Under this model, users of a website are presented with a choice to either:

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

The practice has been the subject of discussion among regulators, policymakers, and consumer advocates, with many viewing the practice as undermining the principle of meaningful consent within the General Data Protection Regulation. Consent-or-pay has been adopted by a number of large online platforms and news organizations. As of August 2025, 16 of the 50 largest UK news websites had implemented a consent-or-pay model.

Background

Main article: General Data Protection Regulation

The General Data Protection Regulation was enacted in 2018 with the objective of protecting online users from extensive data collection by companies. The regulation requires companies to obtain user consent for data collection, which is typically facilitated through an opt-in banner or pop-up on a website.

Some companies reported a negative impact on revenue following the regulation's implementation, as the scale of data collection for targeted advertising was reduced. The consent-or-pay model emerged as an approach to address this change.

How it works

When a user visits a website, a pop-up consent window is displayed. While traditional options were to Accept or Reject cookies, the consent-or-pay model presents users with the options to Accept or Pay.

• The payment is typically a monthly fee (e.g. £1.99 per month).
• Many sites employing this model were previously free-to-access and funded primarily through advertising.
• Users must now either pay with their personal data or with a monetary fee.

This effectively introduces a paywall for content that is considered freely available, even in the absence of a traditional subscription model.

Why it is a problem

Invalid consent

This binary choice model raises questions about the validity of consent as users are required to choose between two options, both of which involve a form of payment for content that is considered free.

Lack of informed consent

Companies typically state that cookies and data collection are for "personalized ads" and "improving services." The extent to which user data is stored, shared with third-parties, sold to data brokers, or potentially exposed in data breaches is often not detailed. This may lead to users underestimating the long-term implications of sharing their personal data.

False equivalence

The consent-or-pay model equates the value of a user's data to a specific monetary amount. The methodology for calculating this equivalent monthly fee comes into question as it is difficult to ascertain the precise advertising revenue generated from an individual user. The fee is often based on an average revenue per user (ARPU) metric, which applies a generalized value to all users regardless of their individual engagement with advertisements and despite studies suggesting that data cannot be fairly valued.

Illusion of a fair exchange

The model can create a perception that a fair exchange is taking place. By offering a seemingly low monthly fee as an alternative to data collection, users may believe they are compensating the company fairly for lost advertising revenue. This can influence the decision-making process regarding data privacy.

Meta investigation and fine

Following an investigation by the European Commission, Meta was fined on 23 April 2025 for non-compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The investigation concluded that Meta's consent-or-pay model did not meet the DMA's requirements for reducing personalized data for targeted ads and did not allow for freely given consent. Meta was fined €228 million in April, and by July, the European Commission warned that the company could face additional daily fines if it continued to employ this model.

Uses

News organizations

Several media outlets in Europe have adopted consent-or-pay models, including:

• The Mirror
• The Independent
• Der Spiegel
• Der Standard
• Le Monde
• Le Parisien
• Corriere della Sera
• MeridioNews
• 
  Screenshot of MeridioNews' consent-or-pay policy appearing after rejecting cookies on one of their articles
• 
  (machine-translated) screenshot of MeridioNews' consent-or-pay policy

Critical response

Regulatory agencies

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 opinion stated that the consent-or-pay model does not constitute valid consent and that appropriate alternative measures should provide users with an "equivalent alternative." Furthermore, it noted that if a payment model is offered, the alternative should not involve processing personal data. Choices 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 advocacy groups

"noyb" is a data protection advocacy organization based in Austria that focuses primarily on compliance and violations of the General Data Protection Regulation. In November 2023, the group filed a complaint with the Austrian Data Protection Authority against Meta, arguing that the company lacked "any valid legal basis for [pay-or-okay]. [...] Meta is now trying to extort supposed consent from its users with a 'yes or pay' choice". The complaint cited the high costs of rejecting personalized ads, which was €12.99 per month for Facebook and €8 per month for Instagram, approximating a combined annual cost of €251.88. noyb expressed concern that Meta's approach could set a precedent for other platforms, potentially leading to €35,000 per family when combined with other platforms and websites.

Effectiveness

The Open Marketplace, once considered the easiest and most efficient platform for advertisers and publishers to transact, has been facing steady decline since the General Data Protection went into effect. In a report by Advertising Week published in September 2023, advertisers using Open Marketplace were reaching only roughly 30% of their audience, meaning that 70% of advertising efforts were wasted due to users opting out of data collection. Their findings were based upon a report from Nano Interactive, a company that claims to be "at the forefront of privacy-first, identity-free online advertising", in which the company surveyed 2,000 UK consumers and found that 70% of them rejected cookies using various methods (VPN, incognito mode, clearing cache, etc).

The Drum reported on that same survey by noting the increasing discomfort consumers have on trading personal data for free content. Those in the survey were split 30-30% on whether they view this as a fair exchange, but over half believe advertisers should find better ways to make ads relevant. Additionally, it was reported that of consumers who are concerned about privacy, 42% report data collection as their biggest concern, while only 31% are concerned with data breaches or online scams respectively.

Alternative practices

Contextual advertising is a model that serves ads based on the content of the page a user is viewing (e.g., food ingredients on a recipe page). This advertising model had once been considered the standard on the internet and has returned in high numbers since the General Data Protection Regulation went into effect. The Guardian, a UK-based news organization, reported a 35% increase in ad clicks after emplying this model, describing it as "a perfect advertising product for a privacy conscious brand". An article from Digiday reports that some publishers had long complained at the loss of contextual advertising in the rush to micro-target through personalized ads. They state the the infamous ad-pocalypse from YouTube could have been avoided if advertisers stuck with contextual advertising instead of following users around the internet.

See also

Europe-based news sites enact consent-or-pay for data tracking

Years of inactivity in “Pay or OK” cases: noyb sues German DPAs

noyb's Pay or Okay report: how companies make you pay for privacy

‘Personalization diminished’: In the GDPR era, contextual targeting is making a comeback