GDPR legislation around data usage may be breached by nearly all websites

In an analysis of nearly 30,000 websites, 94.7 per cent had at least one potential violation of European laws requiring users’ consent to store their data

By Chris Stokel-Walker

Ninety-five per cent of websites may breach General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules around user cookie storage.

Cookies are files that contain small pieces of data about a website user based on the sites they visit, which get saved onto the user’s device every time they go to a website. Websites use cookies to tailor advertisements to the user, record what they have put in their online shopping basket and track the number of people using their site.

Since 2018, the European Union’s GDPR …