Nordic Media Giant Schibsted switches to “Pay or Okay” – complaint filed!

Forced Consent & Consent Bypass Today, the Norwegian Consumer Council (Forbrukerrådet) and noyb have filed a complaint against the Norwegian news publisher Schibsted for implementing a “Pay or Okay” system across its products. Schibsted is one of the largest news publishers in the Nordics and owns well-known brands such as TV4, Aftenposten E24 and VG. The company’s introduction of “Pay or Okay” sets a dangerous precedent for free consent across the Nordic countries, which follows the wide-spread trend of websites to charge a “fee” to reject being tracked online. Complaint against Schibsted (EN)Press release by the Norwegian Consumer Council (NO)Background. In recent years, more and more websites have introduced “Pay or Okay” systems in an attempt to forcibly increase their consent rates for personalised ad tracking far beyond the actual “freely given” consent foreseen by law. This trend was originally started by news media companies in German speaking countries, but in the meantime