Can a website Demand acceptance of non-essential cookies to allow free access?
<p>I have experienced several times now that sites require payment if you do not accept non-essential cookies. My reading of the relevant legislation (from the EU - I have not browsed the Californian legilation) indicates that I, as a consumer, should be allowed to refuse cookies that I do not want to accept.</p>
<p>Is it legal for them to block access and require payment? (I am not blocking ads - just saying that they cannot target ads to me. I cannot comprehend how me not allowing them to save a cookie would make them try to block my access)</p>
<p>Just to clarify: I am aware that collection of demographic data can be important to ensure that your content and ad campaigns are relevant to visitors. My concern however is that I don't see how I have to accept to be tracked more than strictly necessary to read their site - this is cookies, not blocking ads!</p>
<p>The types of sites have always been news sites.</p>
<p>I have read <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/85524/is-consent-required-for-paying-corporate-subscribers-of-a-b2b-website">this</a> answer and I don't feel that it has sufficiently answered the question I have.</p>

<p>Your title is not necessarily consistent with your example.</p>
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<p>Can a website demand acceptance of non-essential cookies to allow access?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As you have found, GDPR prohibits conditioning the provision of service on consent to the processing of personal data. Cookie walls <em>without alternative means of access</em> are generally considered violations of the GDPR.</p>
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<p>Can a website demand acceptance of non-essential cookies to allow <em>free</em> access?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The situation of a &quot;consent or pay&quot; scheme (or &quot;cookie paywalls&quot;) is more uncertain and has not been clearly settled at the EU level. There are data protection authorities that do not consider such scheme necessarily a GDPR violation (<a href="https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/JudikaturEntscheidung.wxe?Abfrage=Dsk&amp;Dokumentnummer=DSBT_20181130_DSB_D122_931_0003_DSB_2018_00&amp;ShowPrintPreview=True" rel="noreferrer">Austria</a>, <a href="https://www.cnil.fr/fr/cookies-et-autres-traceurs/regles/cookie-walls/la-cnil-publie-des-premiers-criteres-devaluation" rel="noreferrer">France</a>) if a reasonable alternative access, without requiring non-essential cookies, is provided. For what it is worth, the French data protection authority (CNIL) held initially that all cookie walls are illegal, but on appeal from publishers and advertisers, the French supreme administrative court annulled CNIL's initial guidelines for being too absolute.</p>
<p>German and Italian authorities are still examining the validity of such scheme.</p>
<p>More reading:</p>
<ul>
<li>Consent or Pay: Privacy Considerations with Cookiewall-Paywall Hybrid Solution, <a href="https://securiti.ai/blog/cookie-paywall/" rel="noreferrer">https://securiti.ai/blog/cookie-paywall/</a></li>
<li>Is the use of a cookie wall allowed in European Countries, <a href="https://www.iubenda.com/en/help/24487-cookie-walls-gdpr" rel="noreferrer">https://www.iubenda.com/en/help/24487-cookie-walls-gdpr</a></li>
</ul>

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