“Reject and Pay”: UK News Publishers’ New GDPR Strategy

“Pay to Reject,” “Reject and Pay,” and “Pay to remove ads”. Readers of the most popular news websites in the UK started seeing unfamiliar buttons in the GDPR popups in summer 2024. In this blog post, we’ll explain why this change happened, what approaches publishers are taking, and what to expect in the future.

Why the Change?

“Consent or pay” is a model familiar in many European countries, but it’s new to the UK. The shift relates to how sites request users’ consent to process personalized data. Traditionally, UK GDPR popups offered options like “Agree to all” or “Manage Options,” with most visitors opting to “Agree to all” to quickly move past the popup.

However, many data protection regulators dislike this approach as it doesn’t provide an equivalent choice to users. In November 2023, the ICO (UK’s data protection authority) began requesting that publishers include a “Reject all” button in the first layer of the popup. This change leads to increased rejection rates and decreased advertising revenues, challenging news publishers already facing revenue stagnation or decline. Read more about the ICO’s approach in our blog post.

The “Pay to Reject” Approach

The “Pay to Reject” model addresses this issue by offering visitors who do not want personalized advertisements the option to pay a small monthly fee (or sometimes not as small). Both Accept and Reject options are presented clearly in the popup, protecting publishers’ revenue regardless of user preferences.

Is “Pay to Reject” the same as premium subscriptions? Do I get access to more content?

No, “Pay to Reject” subscriptions do not give readers access to any additional content. Doing so would violate the principle of equivalence, which states that the ad-funded and paid-for offerings should be the same.

Top publishers have adopted varying messaging and pricing for this model.

The Sun

Price: £4.99/month

Message: “Pay to Reject personalized ads.” This option shows adverts without personalization from The Sun and its partners.

Mirror

Price: £1.99/month

Message: “Reject and Pay” by subscribing to Privacy Plus for £1.99 per month, accessing content without sharing personal data for ads.

Mail Online

Price: £2.70/month

Message: “Purchase a Mail Essential subscription to view MailOnline without personalized ads.”

The Independent

Price: £4/month

Message: Pay to remove all adverts and read The Independent without personalized ads or cookies.

The Times

Price: £6.99/month

Message: “Reject personalised adverts. Read with non-personalised adverts. You will also need a subscription to view subscriber only content.”

“Due to recent regulatory enforcement activities by data protection authorities in the UK and across Europe, you are required to select your cookie preferences regarding personalised adverts when reading The Times and Sunday Times.”

What is coming next?

The ICO began by sending warning letters to the top 100 websites, but they plan to extend this enforcement. “We will not stop with the top 100 websites. We are already preparing to write to the next 100 – and the 100 after that.” Expect to see more “Pay or Consent” implementations in the UK in the coming months.

How Clickio Consent Can Help

Clickio Consent enables publishers to implement the “Pay or Consent” mode easily, without needing their own paywall solution. Learn more about Clickio Consent and its built-in paywall feature which helps publishers adapt to the new ICO requirements.

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