So-called Pay or Okay systems are on the rise in Europe. First introduced by journalistic websites that wanted to boost their consent rates, Meta adopted the approach for Instagram and Facebook in November 2023.
Below, we compiled a number of the most frequently asked questions about Pay or Okay to explain what this is all about and why this approach is dangerous for consent online.
1. What is pay or okay?
Pay or Okay describes a type of consent request on websites, apps or platforms, where refusing consent costs money and usually requires you to sign up to a subscription. Consenting, however, is free of charge.
This system is also called consent or pay or PUR subscription.
2. Where is pay or okay used?
Pay or Okay is used by online platforms, media companies and common websites. It is frequently used in Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Prominent examples are Facebook, Instagram and national news outlets such as Le Monde, El País, La Repubblica, Der Spiegel.
3. Why do I suddenly have to pay for data protection?
Pay or Okay has been introduced because companies believe that they can earn more money with it.
When you consent, companies can use your data to show you (highly invasive) personalised advertising, among other purposes. This way, they earn money.
With Pay or Okay, almost everyone “consents” as the alternative is to sign up for a paid subscription. This makes more money than a common cookie banner.
4. Can I sell my fundamental right to data protection?
No, the fundamental right to data protection is inalienable. That means that the right should be available for everyone, not just for those who can afford it.
If it could be sold, it would not be a fundamental right anymore, but a luxury. This opens the door for discrimination by income.
This point of view has been confirmed by the European Data Protection Board.
5. I do not see a problem, there is two options. What is the issue?
Empirical research shows that 99 % or more people click on the “consent” option. This is backed up by industry numbers.
However, only about 3 % of users are willing to accept marketing cookies.
That means that Pay or Okay effectively manipulates users. The payment option only serves to create the illusion of a choice.
6. Why do so many people consent?
This is not yet clear, but research is currently being carried out.
Several factors could be relevant:
- Effort: Consenting requires one single click. Refusing consent, on the other hand, usually requires creating an account with an email address that needs to be confirmed, in addition to making an online payment. This requires a few minutes.
- Price: There is no will to pay or the price is too high. In particular, if the payment option is selected on several sites/services, the amount for refusing consent becomes higher and higher.
- Subscription: Users do not want to subscribe to a recurring payment that they would have to cancel.
- Goal-oriented browsing: Users are interested in the content and choose the quickest option to get there.
- Not understood: (Some) users do not understand that there is a binary choice and believe that they have to consent anyway.
7. Does Pay or Okay undermine the idea of consent?
Yes, pay or okay undermines the idea of consent. A consent request needs to offer a “genuine or free choice”. The option to refuse consent should not be more “time-consuming” than giving consent. A Pay or Okay banner clearly fails to meet these criteria.
8. But I am free to leave and not use the service, aren’t I?
You can always leave a website or a service. However, this is true regardless of the law. There would be no point in regulating consent if it just describes an option you have in any case.
9. Okay, but companies need to finance their services somehow, right?
Yes, of course services need to be funded. However, with Pay or Okay, companies make you pay for your rights. This is similar to being obliged to pay in order not to be discriminated against.
Instead, companies could rely on other revenue streams, such as requesting a payment for actual content.
10. On average, how much more money does a media company make with Pay or Okay?
According to our estimates, an average media company earns 0.24 % more when using Pay or Okay instead of a common cookie banner.
11. How much money does a media company make per user and month on average?
According to research, a top 50 German news publisher earns € 0.24 per user per month (tracking enabled).
However, if you want to refuse consent, you pay a multiple of that. Le Monde even requires you to pay € 12.99 per month.
12. Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram also started using pay or okay. Is there a difference to common websites?
Even on common websites, the consent rates are 99% or higher (see question #5 above). Therefore, the special position of social media platforms (‘network effect’ and the like) does not make a significant difference for the users’ choices.
The European Data Protection Board already concluded that Pay or Okay is illegal for big platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Consequently, it should also be illegal for other websites.
13. What are the consequences if pay or okay was legal?
If Pay or Okay was legal, the notion of consent would largely become irrelevant.
A few examples:
- A hotel could ask you to “consent” to having a camera in your room or to pay an extra € 15 to refuse the camera.
- A car manufacturer could ask you to “consent” to sharing your location data or to pay an extra € 20 per month to refuse it.
- An airline could ask you to use facial recognition for boarding or to pay € 20 if you want to board manually.
Date: March 2025