Austrian privacy and digital rights group NOYB has posted an update concerning several cookie banner complaints made to the Belgium data protection authority (DPA).
In July 2023, NOYB filed complaints against 15 Belgian news websites for using deceptive cookie banners. Despite previous non-compliance with GDPR, the companies were not ordered to change their unlawful cookie banners. A questionable settlement was reached without a formal order to comply, allowing the violations to continue.
The Belgian authority has now reversed its non-enforcement approach and mandated four Mediahuis-operated websites ( De Standaard, Het Nieuwsblad, Het Belang van Limburg and Gazet van Antwerpen) to bring their cookie banners into compliance. These websites must now implement a "reject" button on the first layer of the banner and refrain from using deceptive button colours to obtain user consent. Mediahuis and the four news sites have 45 days to comply with the DPA's orders, with potential penalties of €50,000 per day for non-compliance, up to a maximum of €10,000,000.
What is this page?
You are reading a summary article on the Privacy Newsfeed, a free resource for DPOs and other professionals with privacy or data protection responsibilities helping them stay informed of industry news all in one place. The information here is a brief snippet relating to a single piece of original content or several articles about a common topic or thread. The main contributor is listed in the top left-hand corner, just beneath the article title.
The Privacy Newsfeed monitors over 300 global publications, of which more than 4,350 summary articles have been posted to the online archive dating back to the beginning of 2020. A weekly roundup is available by email every Friday.