ICO issues guidance on Consent or Pay



The ICO’s guidance on ‘consent or pay’ models, issued on 23 January clarifies that publishers can deploy these models provided that they guarantee meaningful control for individuals over online tracking.

The ICO says that if publishers choose to adopt these models, they must be able to show that people can freely give their consent to personalised advertising and document their assessment of how their “consent or pay” model is compliant with the UK GDPR and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.

In the case where an organisation charges a fee, the ICO says: “You should demonstrate that your fee is appropriate. This will be even more important where there’s an imbalance of power, as people may not have a genuine and free choice to leave your service or not to use it.” The ICO says it is not within its remit to set the level of fees.

According to the Press Gazette, UK publishers currently charge between £6.99 (The Times) and £1.99 per month (Mirror and Express).

The ICO also points out that organisations should consider any barriers to users switching to comparable alternative products or services. When there is a clear power imbalance, organisations could offer alternative ways to access the service that doesn’t rely on the user consenting or paying to avoid personalised advertising.

The ICO says it will take action where it considers that organisations are not providing meaningful control for individuals.

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