This article explains a common source of confusion when testing Cookiebot's cookie-blocking behaviour across different browsers. If you have checked your site in Edge and noticed fewer cookies loading without consent compared to Chrome or Firefox, this page will help you understand why — and why Edge is actually masking the true picture rather than reflecting it.
Edge has built-in tracking protection that works independently of Cookiebot
Microsoft Edge includes a feature called Tracking Prevention, which is enabled by default. This feature blocks requests to known third-party trackers at the browser level — before those scripts even have a chance to run and set cookies.
This means that on a site where Cookiebot is installed, Edge may appear to block third-party marketing or analytics cookies even when those scripts are not correctly configured to wait for user consent. The browser steps in and does the blocking itself, regardless of how the scripts are loaded.
Chrome and Firefox do not have an equivalent built-in tracker-blocking feature enabled by default. They rely entirely on the page's own consent management implementation — in this case, Cookiebot — to control which scripts run and which cookies are set.
Chrome and Firefox show the real behavior of your implementation
Because Chrome and Firefox do not add an extra layer of tracking protection, they reflect exactly what Cookiebot is (and is not) blocking on your site. If a third-party script — for example a LinkedIn Insight Tag or an analytics pixel — is loading and setting cookies before consent is given in these browsers, that is a genuine implementation issue that needs to be addressed.
In Edge, the same script may appear to be blocked, but this is Edge's Tracking Prevention doing the work, not Cookiebot. The underlying issue is still present — it is simply not visible in that browser.
In short: if cookies are appearing without consent in Chrome or Firefox but not in Edge, Edge is masking the real problem.
What this typically means in practice
When this pattern occurs, it usually means one of the following:
- A third-party script is hardcoded in the page source rather than being managed through a tag manager, and is therefore loading before Cookiebot has had a chance to initialize.
- A tag in a tag manager (such as Google Tag Manager) is configured to fire without checking for consent first.
- The relevant cookies have not been correctly categorized in the Cookiebot cookie declaration, so auto-blocking does not apply to them.
Next steps
For guidance on how to resolve pre-consent cookie firing, please refer to our article database, examples below:
Comments
0 comments
Please sign in to leave a comment.