You click a link expecting information.
Instead, you’re hit with cookie banners, tracking notices, pop-ups, and endless “consent” screens designed to make saying no as painful as possible.
Nearly every website now uses tracking technologies to collect data about you. In many cases, they’re supposed to ask for permission. That’s why consent pop-ups exist.
But here’s the problem: around 90% of these pop-ups use dark patterns — designs that make it very hard to refuse and very easy to accept. The law may prohibit these tactics, but enforcement is still too weak, so most websites get away with it.
That’s why I like Consent-O-Matic (https://consentomatic.au.dk/). It’s a browser extension that recognizes consent pop-ups and fills them out based on your preferences, even when the design is clearly trying to manipulate you. And when a site doesn’t use standard categories, it still aims for the most privacy-preserving choice.
The result is simple: less friction, more privacy, and a web experience that respects the user.
Because the problem was never that people hate consent.
The problem is that too many websites weaponize it.
Thanks to Aarhus University!
I understand that the team behind it is Midas Nouwens, Clemens Nylandsted Klokmose, Rolf Bagge, Janus Bager Kristensen. Well done! 🙂
