Research Summary: Senseful Consense: Towards Simplified Cookie Banners using Plain Language

A feasibility study investigating cookie banners within the IAB Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF) found that existing banners often fail to meet regulatory mandates for clarity, using technical jargon and vague phrasing. By applying plain language principles and AI-based content mapping, the study demonstrated a significant reduction in comprehension difficulty, lowering it from a college-graduate level to a 7th-grade level. This suggests that complex consent information can be made more accessible through simplification.

Why it matters

This research highlights a persistent gap between regulatory intent for transparent user consent and the practical implementation of cookie banners. Improving the clarity of consent mechanisms is crucial for maintaining user trust, ensuring compliance, and optimizing digital interactions across various platforms and services. Organizations can leverage plain language principles to enhance user experience and reduce legal risks.

Key insights

• Despite GDPR and ePrivacy Directive mandates for clear consent information, most modern cookie banners contain technical jargon, vague phrasing, or content overload/underload (Source: arXiv research).
• A feasibility study analyzed 200 website cookie banner texts, using AI-based mapping to categorize extracted content into standardized processing purposes (Source: arXiv research).
• Substituting complex legal terms with simplified descriptions successfully lowered the comprehension barrier of cookie banners from a college-graduate level to a 7th-grade level (Source: arXiv research).
• The research specifically focused on the impact of applying 'Einfache Sprache' (plain language) to cookie banners within the IAB TCF (Source: arXiv research).

Source

arXiv — Computers and Society — https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.10271