The  European Data Protection Board (EDPB), which has published updated guidelines on the rules around online consent to process people's data. Under pan-EU law, consent is one of six lawful bases that data controllers can use when processing people's personal data.

But for consent to be legally valid under Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) there are specific standards to meet: It must be clear and informed, specific and freely given.

For example Internet Advertising Bureau Europe was operating a full cookie wall — instructing visitors to ‘agree’ to its data processing terms if they wished to view the content.

The problem is that that wasn’t a free choice. Yet EU law requires a free choice for consent to be legally valid.

The ruling means that Cookie walls that demand 'consent' as the price for getting inside they are illegal and you cannot put consent behind a cookie wall.