Plain language makes cookie banners easier to understand for everyone
Senseful Consense: Towards Simplified Cookie Banners using Plain Language
Computers and SocietyHuman-Computer Interaction
Summary
Many cookie banners that ask for consent use complicated legal language that is hard for most people to understand. The authors studied 200 websites and changed their cookie banners into simpler language that matches a 7th-grade reading level instead of college-level. This makes the banners easier to read, but it can’t fix banners that leave out important information. The authors say that simple language should be combined with clear rules so banners are both easy to read and contain the right information.
What this means in practice
- •For web developers: Improve cookie banners by rewriting their text to simplified language that enhances user comprehension while respecting required consent categories.
- •For privacy compliance teams: Create cookie consent messages that meet GDPR readability standards by combining plain language with mandated content requirements.
Authors
Minela Bećirović, Ha Dao, Mannat Kaur, Martin Johns, Alexandra Dirksen
Abstract
While the GDPR and ePrivacy Directive mandate that consent information must be clear and accessible, most modern cookie banners remain obscured by technical jargon, vague phrasing, and frequent content overload or underload. This feasibility study investigates the impact of applying plain language (Einfache Sprache) to cookie banners within the IAB Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF). In our study, we analysed cookie banner texts from 200 websites, using AI-based mapping to categorise extracted content into standardised processing purposes. By substituting complex legal terms with simplified descriptions, we successfully demonstrated that the comprehension barrier can be lowered from a college-graduate level to a 7th-grade level. However, the effectiveness of plain language is inherently constrained by the informativeness of the original content; it cannot compensate for banners that omit legally required details. We conclude that while plain language is a vital tool for digital accessibility, it must be paired with standardised implementation guidelines to ensure that cookie banners are both readable and informative.