European privacy watchdogs want cookie consent banners gone, call on users to act

Europe, which is largely responsible for the current cookie consent banner mess, wanted them gone for good but faced resistance from big tech and ultimately succumbed. Privacy nonprofits have united in a last-ditch effort – the “Kill the cookie banner” campaign – urging citizens to act and email politicians directly.

Different interests are clashing within the European Commission over the proposal to scrap cookie consent banners.

EU non-profits, led by the Austrian privacy organization noyb, launched the “Kill the cookie banner” campaign, blaming Google, the tracking industry, and “several member states” for blocking the EU Commission’s proposal that would supposedly eliminate “cookie fatigue.”

The campaign page urges citizens to write their members of the European Parliament to express support for the awaited change.

“We’re fed up with misleading cookie banners. And we finally have a chance to get rid of them!” noyb posted on X.

“The solution? Simple! Express your privacy preferences once, for example via your browser or device, and have them respected permanently.”

The campaign brings together a coalition of European and international consumer, civil liberties, and digital rights organizations, including noyb, BEUC, Check My Ads, Civil Liberties Union for Europe, EDRi, EFF, ICCL, Stichting Data Bescherming Nederland, ApTI, Homo Digitalis, Digihumanism, and SCLab Europe.

What’s going on?

The European Commission (EC) proposed to replace endless cookie banners with one-time browser-level privacy settings in November last year. This proposal is known as Article 88b GDPR in the Digital Omnibus package.

If it ever worked as intended, users would set their tracking preferences in the browser settings once, and all websites would have to respect those choices automatically, rather than prompting users to accept or reject cookies. The new rule is supposed to reduce “cookie fatigue.”

The open consultation ended on the 11th of March, 2026.

Google suggested ditching Article 88b.

“Article 88b should be deleted. Retaining this provision risks anchoring the Omnibus to a proven-failed architecture, Google’s position reads.

“It will drastically impair the ability of most websites to monetize content and drive client acquisition. The resulting low consent rates and severely restricted data access.”

Meta suggested removing the entire Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive. This rule is why we have cookie banners in the first place, as it requires website operators to obtain clear user consent before storing or accessing their information.

Instead, Meta suggested a single regime that would simply “allow the gathering of data from terminal equipment, and its use,” relying on a range of legal bases. Simply put, “low-risk” data would be collected without any consent.

Ultimately, the EU Council silently removed Article 88b from the proposal.

Noyb later argued that Google and some EU states, including France and Germany, stood in a way while “calling on the EU to ‘simplify’ and ‘cut red tape.’”

The organization obtained Google’s lobbying paper opposing Article 88b, which it blamed for “an avalanche of misinformation.”

“Using completely far-fetched figures, it argues that without cookie banners, all online advertising would come to a standstill. Google is exaggerating wildly here and assumes there is a central ‘kill switch’ for all advertising,” noyb previously said.

The organization concluded that Google’s “absurd” arguments persuaded Germany, France, and Poland to support current cookie banners – the latest Council’s position paper of 18th June scraps the plan to abolish annoying cookie prompts.

“This baffling outcome is likely to continue to cost European users a great deal of hassle, frustration, and billions of clicks per year,” noyb concluded in June.

The “Kill the cookie banner” campaign now hopes that the European Parliament, which has not yet taken a position, can revive the proposal.

Authors argue that cookie banners are not required under the GDPR and are a consequence of the advertising model, in which websites need users to waive their rights.

This results in up to 90% of people saying “YES” – even though only around 3% actually want to be tracked online. This system is broken by design.

“Kill the cookie banner"

The website lists the email addresses of MPs from each country who belong to the LIBE (Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs) and ITRE (Industry, Research and Energy) committees.

The expectations are low. Previously, noyb warned that the European People’s Party (EPP), the largest center-right political group in the European Parliament, might seek to sideline the proposal under pressure from the tracking lobby.