Many consumers find the legally required information about data usage settings on websites to be annoying. Many consumers simply click off the cookies without reading the information.
Before you can open a website, a cookie banner pops up: This is annoying for many consumers. Information about the settings for data use on websites is legally mandatory. “Three quarters (76 percent) of internet users are annoyed by such cookie banners and tracking settings,” explained the digital association Bitkom today, referring to a survey: “Two thirds (68 percent) even say they like it don’t bother.”
Nevertheless, many Internet users consider data protection to be fundamentally important. According to the survey, a good half of those surveyed do not use some offers because they use too many cookies. 58 percent regularly delete cookies in their browser. For 34 percent, the cookie and tracking settings are important. However, almost as many respondents said they did not understand the settings.
Stricter rules since 2018
Cookies are small data packages with information about user behavior that are stored when you visit websites and can be used, among other things, to display targeted advertising.
With the EU General Data Protection Regulation passed in 2018, stricter rules apply to internet companies. You are obliged to obtain users’ consent before using cookies and to inform them of further setting options when visiting websites or using apps.
Only 33 percent actively choose
These legal requirements are “apparently not desired by the majority of users,” explained Susanne Dehmel from Bitkom: “Politics, business and science should work together to develop solutions so that people can use websites quickly, easily and conveniently according to their wishes .”
According to the Bitkom survey, 24 percent of internet users basically agree to all cookie and tracking requirements because they don’t want to deal with them. 21 percent say they generally reject everything. Just 33 percent of those surveyed specifically select which cookies or tracking they allow.