Court case W171 2305420-1 – Court Ruling (Austria, 2026)

Court Ruling
Datenschutzbehörde23 April 2026Austria
final
ePrivacy
Court Ruling

An Austrian court ruled that a cookie banner used by a company did not allow users to reject cookies easily. This matters because it shows that companies must provide clear options for users to refuse tracking. The ruling emphasizes the importance of user consent in online privacy.

What happened

The court found that the cookie banner lacked a rejection option and used misleading design to enable tracking without consent.

Who was affected

Website visitors who encountered the cookie banner and had their data tracked without proper consent were affected.

What the authority found

The court decided that the company violated GDPR by not providing a clear way for users to reject cookies, which is required for valid consent.

Why this matters

This ruling highlights that companies must ensure their cookie consent mechanisms are user-friendly and transparent. It sets a precedent for stricter enforcement of consent requirements in online tracking.

GDPR Articles Cited

AI-verified

Art. 17(GDPR)
View original scraped data
Art. 17(GDPR)

Original data from scraper before AI verification against source document.

Decision AuthorityBVwG
Reviewed AuthorityDSB (Austria)
Source verified 1 June 2026
authority corrected
date discrepancy
Full Legal Summary
Detailed

The cookie banner lacked a rejection option on the first layer, used dark patterns, and enabled the placement of non-essential cookies without valid consent.

Outcome

Court Ruling

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

Violations (3)

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

Cookies Placed Before Consent
critical

Non-essential cookies (tracking, advertising) are placed on the user's device before obtaining valid consent.

Art. 6(1) GDPR

Misleading Banner Messaging
critical

The cookie banner uses misleading language to trick or pressure users into accepting cookies (dark patterns).

Art. 7 GDPR

Related Cases (0)

No other cases found for Court case W171 2305420-1 in AT

This is the only recorded case for this entity in this jurisdiction.

Similar Cases

Enforcement actions with similar violations

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. Court case W171 2305420-1 - Austria (2026). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu

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