Google is introducing new options to reject tracking cookies in Europe after it was found that its existing dialogs violated EU data law.
Earlier this year, French data protection agency CNIL fined Google 150 million euros ($170 million) for deploying confusing language in cookie banners. Previously, Google allowed users to accept all tracking cookies with a single click, but forced people to click through various menus to reject them. The CNIL said the asymmetry was illegal and led users to accept cookies to ultimately benefit Google’s advertising business.
To address this, Google’s new cookie banner offers clear, balanced choices: “Decline All,” “Accept All,” or “More Options” (for finer control). If the user is not logged in, the new menu will appear on Google Search and YouTube. (If you’re signed in, you can adjust tracking options through Google’s data and privacy menu.)
A new cookie banner gives users the option to reject all tracking cookies with one click. Image: Google
“We have already started rolling out the service in France and will be expanding the experience to the rest of the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland,” Google product manager Sammit Adhya wrote in a blog post announcing the changes. “Soon, users in the region will have a new cookie option – accept or decline with a single click.”
Using cookie banners generally remains a confusing and frustrating experience for most internet users. Giving people the option to reject or accept cookies should provide more control over the user’s data, but as Google’s example shows, it may depend on how those options are implemented. The European Centre for Digital Rights (noyb), which promotes a proper cookie menu, says that 90% of users click to accept all cookies, but only 3% actually want them. Those changes Google implemented are small, of course, but can help shift that balance.
