Österreichischer Rundfunk - ORF – Court Ruling (Austria, 2026)

Court Ruling
Datenschutzbehörde23 April 2026Austria
final
ePrivacy
Court Ruling

Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) faced a ruling because its cookie banner made it hard for users to refuse consent for data tracking. This is important for website operators because it highlights the need for clear and fair consent options. The ruling reinforces that rejecting consent should be as easy as accepting it.

What happened

Österreichischer Rundfunk's cookie banner did not provide an equally easy option for users to reject consent compared to accepting it.

Who was affected

Website visitors who encountered ORF's cookie banner were affected by the unfair consent practices.

What the authority found

The court ruled that ORF's cookie banner violated privacy rules by making it harder for users to reject consent than to accept it.

Why this matters

This ruling sets a precedent for how consent banners should be designed, pushing companies to ensure that rejecting consent is just as straightforward as accepting it. Website operators should review their consent mechanisms to avoid similar issues.

GDPR Articles Cited

AI-verified

Art. 5(1)(a) GDPR
Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR
Art. 7(1) GDPR
Art. 4(11) GDPR
Art. 58(2)(d) GDPR
View original scraped data
Art. 4(11) GDPR
Art. 5(1)(a) GDPR
Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR
Art. 7(1) GDPR
Art. 58(2)(d) GDPR

Original data from scraper before AI verification against source document.

Decision AuthorityBVwG
Reviewed AuthorityDSB (Austria)
Source verified 13 May 2026
articles corrected
date discrepancy
authority corrected
Full Legal Summary
Detailed

The cookie banner did not offer an equally prominent rejection option and made refusing consent more difficult than accepting it.

Outcome

Court Ruling

A ruling by a national court on a data-protection matter.

Violations (2)

No Reject Button
critical

Cookie banner does not provide a clear reject/refuse all button at the same level as the accept button.

Art. 7 GDPR

Reject Harder Than Accept
critical

Refusing cookies requires more clicks or steps than accepting them, or the reject option is less visually prominent.

Art. 7 GDPR

Details

Ruling Date

23 April 2026

Authority

Datenschutzbehörde

About this data

Data: GDPRhub (noyb.eu)
Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
AI-verified and classified
Cookie relevance: 100%

Cite as: Cookie Fines. Österreichischer Rundfunk - ORF - Austria (2026). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu

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