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Cookie Banners Don’t Work. It’s Time for a Centralised Solution

  • Marketing
2 min read

Article Overview

The European Commission is currently weighing up changes to the 2009 e-Privacy Directive, the technology rule responsible for website cookie banners.

The rules currently state that websites must obtain user consent to make use of cookies in any scenario beyond those deemed ‘strictly necessary’ to provide a service.

The result has been that users have become accustomed to being greeted online by cookie banners and pop-ups.

The Commission is now considering changes to cookie rules, including introducing a longer list of exceptions or centralising user preferences via the web browser.

Evidence of fatigue

This is a conversation that has been a long time coming. For too long, the open web has become a mess of cookie banners and pop-ups.

Visiting almost any website has started with an intrusive and often long-winded cookie compliance message.

Websites that comply are forced to present too much information.

In our view, the current approach simply does not work.

Fatigued from reviewing cookie policies for each website, visitors are often incentivised to accept ‘default’ settings. Depending on the website in question, these settings might not always serve the visitor well.

A UK Government report backs up this position, finding that when presented with a ‘neutral’ cookie banner, 78% of users choose to ‘accept all’ cookies.

Indulge advocates for a centralised solution, delivered via the user's access method; be that their desktop web browser, device, or a plugin.

Users should be encouraged to understand how they would like cookies to be used for them globally.

Users shouldn’t be expected to set one rule for one website and another rule for the next. The person at the other end of the interaction remains the same, and their view of cookies is unlikely to change from one site to the next.

Now is the time for the European Commission to facilitate a common-sense solution. A centralised system that uses technology to empower web users to understand and control how cookies interact with their browsers and devices.

A new rule should also remove the burden on website owners who are currently required to present a soup of jargon at the start of every visitor journey.

The European Commission now has the chance to cut through the noise. A centralised, user-first model would remove friction for website owners and finally give web users the power to make informed choices.