A coalition of privacy and digital rights organisations is urging Europeans to pressure lawmakers to revive a proposal that could eliminate the constant cookie consent banners displayed across the web. The initiative, called “Kill the Cookie Banner,” argues that users should be able to set their privacy preferences once through their browser or device instead of making the same choice on every website they visit.
The campaign is led by Austrian privacy advocacy group noyb and is supported by organisations including BEUC, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), European Digital Rights (EDRi), Check My Ads, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), Stichting Data Bescherming Nederland, ApTI, Homo Digitalis, Digihumanism and SCLab Europe. Supporters are encouraging citizens to contact Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and back changes they believe would reduce so-called “cookie fatigue.”
At the centre of the debate is Article 88b, a proposal included in the European Commission’s Digital Omnibus package. Introduced in late 2025, the measure would allow people to configure tracking preferences once in their browser or operating system. Websites would then be required to honour those settings automatically, removing the need for repeated cookie consent prompts.
The proposal completed its public consultation in March 2026, but it has since faced significant opposition. According to noyb, Google called for Article 88b to be removed, arguing that the change would reduce consent rates and make it harder for many websites to generate advertising revenue and attract customers.
Meta also opposed parts of the existing framework, proposing the removal of Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive. That provision currently requires websites to obtain user consent before storing or accessing certain information on a person’s device. Meta instead argued for a broader legal framework that would allow some categories of data to be processed without relying solely on consent.
Article 88b was ultimately omitted from the European Union Council’s latest position on the proposal. Noyb has alleged that lobbying by Google, together with opposition from several member states, including France and Germany, contributed to the provision being dropped. The organisation also said it obtained Google’s lobbying document, which it claims contained misleading arguments about the proposal’s impact on online advertising.
The campaign’s organisers are now looking to the European Parliament, which has yet to adopt its position on the legislation. Through the campaign website, users can find contact details for MEPs serving on the Civil Liberties (LIBE) and Industry (ITRE) committees and are encouraged to ask them to support Article 88b. Whether the measure is ultimately restored will depend on the Parliament’s negotiations with other EU institutions as the legislative process continues.