Given the background of the GDPR and its tie-in ban, the
Austrian Data Protection Authority presumed as voluntary and
therefore valid an individual's consent to accepting
advertising cookies in order to use an online news platform for
free.
In order to be valid, consent to the processing of personal data
must be given voluntarily for the specific case, in an informed
manner and unambiguously by way of a statement or other clear
affirmative action. In judging the voluntariness, the GDPR insists
that maximum consideration be given to whether, i.a., performance
of a contract, including the processing of a service, depends on
consenting to the processing of such personal data as are not
required for performing the contract. This limitation to the use of
consenting under data protection law is known as a tie-in ban.
