ICO hails action to stamp out illegal advertising cookies

The Information Commissioner’s Office has provided an update on its action to tackle cookie compliance, which the regulator insists has brought the vast majority of the UK’s most used websites into compliance with rules on the use of advertising trackers.

The ICO reckons its action has given an estimated 80% of UK Internet users over the age of 14, equating to around 40 million people, greater control over how they are tracked for personalised advertising.

As a result of this work, 979 of the top 1,000 websites met the ICO’s compliance checks at the time of their most recent test, with only 21 websites identified as still failing.

Of the sites that were compliant with our testing criteria, 415 passed without any intervention. The remaining 564 improved their practices after initially failing, following direct engagement from the ICO.

This involved sending letters to website operators highlighting their shortcomings in compliance and, where this did not lead to change, opening investigations and, in 17 cases, issuing preliminary enforcement notices (PENs).

The regulator insists its action has seen “significant changes” that have improved user experiences online, including a greater prevalence of “reject” options on cookie banners and a lower prevalence of cookies being placed before consent has been given or after it has been refused.

Alongside this work, it has also been encouraging better practices by engaging with trade bodies representing the majority of industries who appear in the top 1,000 websites and the consent management platforms (CMPs) that provide consent management solutions to nearly 80% of the top 500 websites. This has led to these CMPs making significant changes to ensure the cookie banner options they provide to their customers are compliant by default, the ICO claims.

ICO interim executive director of regulatory supervision Tim Capel said: “We set ourselves the goal of giving people more meaningful control over how they were tracked online by the end of 2025. I can confidently say that we have delivered on that promise.

“Our work does not stop here. We want to ensure that websites that we have brought into compliance with the cookie rules do not simply revert to their previously unlawful practices because they think it will go under the radar. We will continue to monitor compliance and engage with industry to ensure they uphold their legal obligations, while also supporting innovation that respects people’s privacy.”