Many readers of the digital edition of La Vanguardia were surprised on Wednesday of last week when, upon entering the website or application, a message appeared asking them to indicate whether they accepted or rejected cookies (a system which stores their reading habits in the user’s browser and which, among other things, allows them to offer personalized advertising).
The surprise was not because of the query itself, since it has appeared on all web pages for a long time, but because now to access the website you can alternatively accept the use of certain cookies or subscribe to the newspaper.
“I wonder if this method of ‘Accept cookies’ or ‘Reject and subscribe’ is legal,” asked a reader on social network X. “I perfectly understand the payment to access journalistic content. What I don’t understand is the obligation to pay or accept cookies just to see the headlines,” another complained.
Eugenia Sánchez, data protection delegate of the Godó Group, points out that the modification in the cookie policy is produced by requirement of the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD), which, in line with European guidelines, has been obligatory since January 10 to place on the same level the option of accepting or rejecting them. The AEPD confirms that there may be cases in which not accepting cookies prevents access to the website or the service, as long as the user is informed and an alternative to do so is offered “not necessarily free.” The majority of large Spanish newspapers that, like La Vanguardia, have opted for the digital subscription model to maintain quality journalism in the face of changes in reader habits, have adapted to the regulations, requiring some type of payment to browse without cookies . A measure that, as the data protection delegate explains, the leading newspapers in Germany, France and Italy already took years ago.
How, then, does the measure affect subscribers and readers? As mentioned, privacy and data protection comply in both cases with the new instructions of the AEPD and, with regard to access to the contents of the newspaper, both will be able to continue browsing as before, with the new requirement already mentioned to accept cookies for non-subscribers.
