After getting frustrated with all the unwanted ads in your browser, you install an ad blocker hoping to get an uninterrupted internet browsing experience. However, when you open a website to read an article, you are greeted by a cookie consent pop-up that seeks permission to track you and promises to use the cookies to optimize your browsing experience. You’re in a hurry so you accept the cookies without caring about the consequences, but the pop-up appears again on every new website you visit. If you find these cookie consent notifications annoying, learn how to prevent them from showing up.

Also read:How to Change the Default Search Engine in Various Browsers

Why Do I Get Cookie Consent Pop-Ups?

The intrusive nature of cookies, which track your movements on the Internet, raised privacy concerns. This led to the creation of a few laws and regulations, namely the ePrivacy Directive and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which went into action in 2018. Here’s a closer look at what happened.

Cookies were introduced in the 1990s by Lou Montulli, who pioneered elements like HTTP proxying. He coined the term “cookies,” which he used in Netscape. Soon after the advent of cookies, people started raising their voices over the privacy concerns that accompanied these bits of information.

The issue became so mainstream that the U.S. Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Capability had to release a press statement that dismantled the threats people associated with cookies.

Cookie Consent Guidelines for Websites

According to the ePrivacy Directive (the EU Cookie Law) and GDPR, websites must:

• Not use trackers and cookies unless readers explicitly give consent to do so
• Give detailed information about the trackers and cookies they deploy
• Give users the option to opt out as easily as they can opt in (This is often abused by websites, which change the colors of the accept and reject cookies to make it easier for users to accept cookies.)

The EU changed the ePrivacy Directive to the ePrivacy Regulation (ePR) in January 2017. This move made it a law by which all websites must abide. Violation of this could lead to fines, as was seen with Google and Facebook at $169 million and $67 million respectively.

It is to comply with these laws that almost every website now has a cookie consent pop-up, asking your permission to store your data.

Also read:11 Kid-Friendly Browsers that Are Totally Safe for Children to Use

Should You Block All Cookies?

Cookies store your data, track your online movements and save your passwords, so it follows that you should disable them all to fix the privacy problem. But, unfortunately, it’s not easy as that because cookies are helpful too.

Yes, it’s true that cookies store a lot of data, and sometimes, it might be much more than bargained for, such as the information Google knows about you.

However, cookies are an important part of the ecosystem that keeps the Internet free for you. To enable you to read articles online for free, websites put up display ads or other types of ads that require some information about their readers to target the right audience with relevant ads. This makes it important for websites and third-party ad networks to collect your data.

Secondly, cookies store your log-in sessions, which means if you completely disable cookies in your browser, you will have to log in to your account on each website every time you open it.

If you don’t care about the Internet’s economy and can also cope with logging in to websites often, you can disable all cookies to get rid of their pop-up consent notifications from your web browser.

Also read:7 of the Best Search Engines For Privacy

How to Block Cookie Consent Pop-Ups on Chrome

1. Click the three dots at the upper-right corner of Chrome and go to Settings.

2. Head to “Privacy and security -> Cookies and other site data.”

3. Select the “Block all cookies” radio button.

Also read:What Is Caret Browsing and How to Enable It in Your Browser

Blocking Cookie Consent Pop-Ups on Microsoft Edge

1. Click the three dots in the upper-right corner and click on Settings.

2. Navigate to “Cookies and site permissions.”

3. Click on “Manage and delete cookies and site data.”

4. Toggle off the “Allow sites to save and read cookie data” option.

How to Block Cookie Consent Pop-Ups on Firefox

1. Click on the three horizontal bars in the upper-right corner.

2. Head to “Settings -> Privacy & Security.” Under “Enhanced Tracking Protection,” choose the Strict option.

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Block Cookie Consent Pop-Ups in Safari (macOS)

1. Open Safari on your Mac and head over to Preferences.

2. Open Privacy settings.

3. Select the checkbox for “Block all cookies.”

4. In the confirmation pop-up you receive, click on “Block All.”

Block Cookie Consent Pop-Ups in Safari (iPhone/iPad)

1. Go to “Settings -> Safari -> Privacy & Security -> Block Cookies.”

2. Tap on “Always Block.”

An Alternative to Blocking All Cookies

If you’re looking for complete anonymity, you can also go with a privacy-first browser like Tor, Brave or DuckDuckGo. These browsers follow the most strict protocols that prioritize the user’s privacy and do not track their activity on any website. So for people who really care about privacy, it’s better to switch to these browsers entirely rather than just disabling cookies or using extensions.

Note: you’ll have to make some tweaks to speed up Tor as it’s a slightly slow browser.

Also read:10 Useful Features of Brave You Didn’t Know Existed

Block Cookie Consent Pop-Ups With Browser Extensions

Instead of blocking all cookies and losing their benefits, you could go with a browser extension that fills cookie consent pop-ups for you. Set your preference for the cookies you want to allow, and the extension will only allow those. Do note that some extensions simply hide the pop-ups. If you aren’t concerned about privacy and just want to get rid of the pop-ups, these are great options:

• Consent-O-Matic (Chrome | Mozilla | Safari) works by automatically filling cookie forms according to your preferences. You let the extension know your preferences – which cookies you want to accept or reject. This is perfect since blocking all cookies isn’t recommended, and doing so can lead to some sites glitching.
• Consent Manager (Chrome | Mozilla) is another great extension for rejecting most cookies. The best thing about this extension is that it automatically flags and reports websites that do not comply with the EU Cookie Law. It also displays on the icon the number of cookies being served illegally.
• I Don’t Care About Cookies (Chrome | Mozilla) hides or blocks cookie pop-ups. It doesn’t accept or reject certain cookies according to your preferences. When cookies are needed for a website to work properly, the extension will automatically accept them. If you can’t figure out which cookies you should accept (and reject), this is a great option.

Also read:5 Free Ad Blockers That Perform Well on Microsoft Edge

To install an extension on Chrome:

1. Go to Chrome Web Store.

2. Search for your extension.

3. Click on “Add to Chrome.”

4. In the confirmation pop-up, choose “Add Extension.”

5. You will get a pop-up notification when the extension is added to your browser.

For other browsers such as Microsoft Edge and Firefox, head to their respective web stores. Once you’ve found the extension, the steps to install it are almost the same across all browsers.

Also read:How to Block Websites on Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, Android, and iOS

Frequently Asked Questions

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