Protecting your privacy in digital services is set to get more expensive. Several European and Nordic news outlets have started charging users who decline cookies.
Behind this is pressure from major international advertising companies. Meta, TikTok, and Google, for example, want precise data on the audiences they’re targeting with ads. That data doesn’t get collected if a user has declined cookies. Social media platforms themselves already started putting ad-blocking behind a paywall some time ago.
“Data privacy in digital services has been a genuinely important issue since the 1990s. Charging for declining cookies brings transparency to how data is collected and used. It makes visible the fact that personal and profile data is a form of currency, and more and more people are starting to ask what exactly is being traded,” says Marko Turpeinen, CEO of the consulting firm 1001 Lakes.
Turpeinen also works as a part-time adjunct professor in the Department of Computer Science at Aalto University and as a trainer in Aalto EE’s digital and data programs.
"Personal and profile data is a form of currency, and more and more people are starting to ask what exactly is being traded."
Data is collected constantly, everywhere
Data collection isn’t a new phenomenon. Information is gathered every time you log into a service like Netflix or Google. Once you’re identified as a user, a wide range of data gets collected, such as how much time you spend on each page and how fast you scroll.
“There’s a wide range of methods for collecting data, and all of it is used to build user profiles. Many people don’t realize that Google, for instance, combines information about a person across its different services. How rich these profiles are is genuinely startling,” Turpeinen notes.
According to Turpeinen, it’s an ongoing exchange, since profiling often benefits users too.
“Whether you pay or not, your data gets collected. Typically, a service improves the more it knows about you, since that allows it to be personalized. It comes down to the value proposition of the service. On the flip side, the experience on YouTube gets worse if you have to watch an ad every three minutes,” Turpeinen adds.
Pricing models for data collection are becoming more varied
Turpeinen doesn’t believe any company will raise the price for declining cookies to an unreasonable level, since that wouldn’t serve their own interests.
“Cookies are just one way of collecting data. In reality, there are many more methods available.”
Turpeinen believes that in the future, consumers will be offered several tiers depending on how much data is collected. Users of the free version will need to accept data collection, while at the other end of the spectrum, you’ll be able to pay to remove ads entirely. In between, there could be versions with ads but no user tracking.
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| According to Turpeinen, even an expert struggles to keep up with how, for example, AI services use the data they collect. |
Privacy on digital platforms is becoming a privilege for the few
How is the accelerating use of AI changing data collection and related pricing across digital platforms?
“Cookies show you what a person clicks on. With AI, a person tells it what they’re thinking. That’s much more personal data. That’s why the question of whether you pay for a service with money or with data is becoming more important than ever. We’re already seeing some AI services experiment with ads, while others have ruled them out entirely.”
So will the price of digital services rise if you opt out of having your data collected? Could privacy on digital platforms even become a luxury good that only some people can afford?
“For many people, the pain threshold has already been crossed. Any single price usually stays reasonable, but once you add up several services, the total climbs fast. We’re heading toward a two-tier system, where some people will be forced to choose the version that collects more data and is therefore cheaper or free,” Turpeinen adds.
"With AI, a person tells it what they’re thinking. That’s much more personal data. That’s why the question of whether you pay for a service with money or with data is becoming more important than ever."
The MyData movement promotes the ethical use of personal data
Personal data issues are close to Turpeinen’s heart, as he is also one of the founders of the MyData movement. The MyData concept was developed in Finland, and its goal is to promote the ethical, individual-respecting use of personal data.
From a legislative standpoint, the global picture is split into two.
“European data protection laws create safety nets, whereas the United States lacks a comprehensive federal privacy law, and personal data is largely fair game and treated as a commodity,” Turpeinen sums up.
Even European regulation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), isn’t without its flaws.
“Cases involving major American companies are concentrated with Ireland’s data protection authority, and enforcement has been slow. Sanctions often turn into years-long appeals processes. On top of that, the data portability the regulation promises, for example, moving your data from one social media service to another, hasn’t really materialized in practice.”
What kind of digital service user are you yourself?
“I’m more critical about this than most people. Even so, I use plenty of services that collect data. The terms for AI services change so quickly that even an expert struggles to keep up with how conversation data gets used and how privacy settings work in, say, Claude. As pricing models become more common, they bring more transparency and get people thinking harder about data collection.”
