Is it GDPR compliant to have all 4 checkboxes pre-ticked? – Cookiebot Support

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB)^* has adopted guidelines for GDPR compliance, clarifying what constitutes valid consent on websites.

The EDPB guidelines clarify that the use of pre-ticked opt-in boxes is not GDPR compliant, as this does not live up to the requirement that “an unambiguous indication of user consent” must be made with a clear and affirmative action by the user. Here, the EDPB guidelines complement the legal precedent made by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the case of Planet 49 in October 2019.

Ticking category checkboxes

According to GDPR, the Planet49 ruling, EDPB and others it is invalid to have pre-ticked checkboxes. The default Cookiebot banner setup will therefore leave the boxes unticked. However, as it is up to each user to design their own cookie banner, it is possible to pre-tick some or all cookie categories:

Log into the Admin.
Select "Configuration" from the left-hand menu.
Expand the "Compliance" section.
Expand the "Show additional settings" section.
Here you can (de)select each of the optional cookie categories.
Save your changes by clicking the "Save changes" button int he upper right corner.

Source: EDPB guidelines: cookies, consent and compliance