Otavamedia Oy – Court Ruling (Finland, 2026)

Court Ruling
DPA27 August 2026Finland
final
ePrivacy
Court Ruling

Finland's HELSINGINHAO found that Otavamedia Oy used a cookie consent banner that made it harder for users to reject cookies than to accept them. This practice violated GDPR and ePrivacy rules. The ruling highlights the need for fair and transparent cookie consent mechanisms on websites.

What happened

Otavamedia Oy's cookie consent banner required more steps to reject cookies than to accept them.

Who was affected

Website visitors of Otavamedia Oy were affected by the confusing cookie consent process.

What the authority found

The authority ruled that Otavamedia Oy's consent mechanism violated GDPR and ePrivacy Directive requirements for user consent.

Why this matters

This case serves as a reminder for website operators to create clear and user-friendly consent options. Companies must ensure that rejecting cookies is as easy as accepting them to comply with privacy regulations.

GDPR Articles Cited

AI-verified

Art. 5(3) ePrivacy Directive GDPR
Art. 7(3) GDPR
Art. 4(11) GDPR
View original scraped data
Art. 4(11) GDPR
Art. 7(3) GDPR
Art. 5(3) ePrivacy Directive

Original data from scraper before AI verification against source document.

National Law Articles

AI-identified

Laki sähköisen viestinnän palveluista (917/2014) 205 §
Decision AuthorityKHO
Reviewed AuthorityHelsingin HAO (Administrative Court of Helsinki)
Source verified 3 September 2026
articles corrected
national law identified
authority corrected
date discrepancy
Full Legal Summary
Detailed

The media company used a two-layer cookie consent banner where rejecting cookies required more steps than accepting them, violating GDPR and ePrivacy Directive requirements.

Outcome

Court Ruling

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

Violations (1)

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

27 August 2026

Authority

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. Otavamedia Oy - Finland (2026). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu

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