Bavarian DPA checks website cookie compliance
The Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision (BayLDA) has recently conducted an extensive review of cookie consent practices across approximately 1,000 websites operated by Bavarian entities. This audit, which utilized an automated tool, specifically targeted websites employing a consent management platform (CMP) from a well-known Bavarian provider. The results were telling: a substantial number of the websites, around 350, were found to be using cookie banners that did not meet the legal requirements set forth by data protection laws.
The implications of the BayLDA’s findings are significant. The authority has taken proactive measures by reaching out to the website operators in question, providing them with an opportunity to respond and make necessary adjustments to their cookie banners. This action underscores a broader trend of increased enforcement of data protection regulations, which has been a longstanding issue. Automated tools offer data protection authorities like the BayLDA new avenues to enforce legal compliance more effectively, despite the challenges of limited resources.
Michael Will, President of the BayLDA, emphasizes the importance of these automated checks. They serve as a crucial step in enhancing the authority’s oversight capabilities, allowing for a more robust enforcement of data protection laws independent of individual complaints. The German Data Protection Conference had already issued guidelines in 2021 on proper cookie banner configuration, aiming to steer website operators toward compliance.
The problem of websites steering users away from privacy-friendly choices is not new. A 2022 study by netzpolitik.org revealed that the majority of Germany’s most-visited websites were actively discouraging users from making privacy-conscious decisions. Some websites had altered their cookie banners following media coverage, but a new trend has emerged where professional media outlets offer paid subscription models as an alternative to “Reject all” options, with the approval of data protection authorities.
Source: Bavaria checks: Cookie banners on many sites are still illegal
