Austrian court rules newspaper’s ‘Pay or Okay’ ,odel violates privacy law
An Austrian court has ruled that newspaper Der Standard’s ‘Pay or Okay’ model, which required users to either accept tracking or pay a subscription, violates the EU’s GDPR. The court said the system did not provide valid consent, as users were only offered an “all or nothing” choice.
The Austrian Federal Administrative Court (BVwG) has ruled that the ‘Pay or Okay’ system used by the newspaper Der Standard breaches the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The decision upholds an earlier ruling by Austria’s data protection authority (DSB).
The ‘Pay or Okay’ model gives website visitors two choices: allow their personal data to be tracked and shared with many advertising companies, or pay a monthly subscription fee (€9.90 in this case) to browse without being tracked. Der Standard introduced this system in 2018 when GDPR came into force.
Privacy groups argued that this setup leaves users with no real choice. According to the advocacy group noyb, while surveys show that only a small percentage of people actually want to be tracked for ads, 99.9% of Der Standard readers accepted tracking under this model. Critics say this shows the consent is not freely given but forced.
The Austrian court agreed that the newspaper’s system did not provide valid consent. Under GDPR, users must be able to decide in detail which types of data processing they accept, rather than only having an “all or nothing” option. Der Standard had argued that such “granular” consent would be impossible within its system, but the court rejected that argument.
The court’s ruling means Der Standard’s approach cannot continue as it stands. However, the newspaper still has the option to appeal to Austria’s Supreme Administrative Court (VwGH). Privacy campaigner Max Schrems from noyb welcomed the decision but said the real issue is the lack of genuine choice for users. He expects the case may eventually reach the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
