Introducing Pay or Consent on Mumsnet

[BeckyAMumsnet]

Hello everyone.

We wanted to give you a heads-up about a change in the way we deal with cookie consent. We are introducing a Pay or Consent model, giving you two different options to continue accessing the site:

1. Continue for free with cookies and ads: this is the option that most people have enabled already.
2. Subscribe to Mumsnet Premium: For those who prefer an ad-free experience with no cookies/tracking for ad purposes - Besides ad-free you’ll also get first access to our product tests plus all revenues from Premium are put towards our campaigning work

Why are we making this change?

The pay or consent model is becoming increasingly common across online platforms as publishers adapt to changes in advertising levels and data privacy regulations. Like many other publishers, we relied on advertising to generate income but changes in tracking regulation and the growing use of ad blockers have made this model less viable.

We know that Mumsnet is an essential space for many - a place to seek advice, find support, and connect with your fellow Mumsnetters. That’s why we’re committed to ensuring that the site remains free at the point of use for anyone who needs it but it’s not fair that those who install ad blockers or rejected cookies are piggy backing on the back of other users who haven’t.

At the same time as introducing this, we’re going to reduce the price of Mumsnet Premium to £2.99 a month because we want to be fair to those who’d rather not accept advertising cookies. This is less than the cost of a flat white a month from most decent coffee shops and we very much hope you think Mumsnet’s worth it! Nb anyone who’s signed up to Mumsnet Premium already at the previous price (£4.99 per month) will have their payments reduced within the next week or so.

We’ll be here to answer any questions you may have. Thank you, as always, for supporting Mumsnet.

I was unsure about clicking on the pay or consent but pp above explained that you're consenting to adverts not cookies and you can check that in your settings

That seemed to work for me on the mobile site anyway

I dont have premium but it doesn't force you to use the app afaik, you can carry on with web or mobile site use

We've carefully considered ICO Guidance in making this change and we're confident that we meet it, having taken into account the four key areas, namely power imbalance, appropriate fee, equivalence and privacy by design.

@BeckyAMumsnet - I'm sure you're keen to share MNHQ's reasoning with us in regard to these four key areas, then...?

And yet the two options in the OP are pay or consent, and consent is described thus:

Continue for free with cookies and ads: this is the option that most people have enabled already.

Weirdly, I never got a pop-up so never approved anything (and have an ad-blocker and settings set not to approve cookies).

I've accepted the Cookies for now, but luckily I've trained myself to ignore adverts - my eyes don't focus on them and I don't click on them - am I freeloading too? Will the model evolve to penalise people who don't click on adverts?

Not read since page 16 … seems now you can’t reject cookies under privacy settings at the bottom of the page any longer - this also now says you have to pay and subscribe or accept and continue 🤷🏻‍♀️😡😡

Yes, you're right. I'm not sure how this works if you have enhanced protection via Chrome (for example). I thought it was supposed to block them. Perhaps they stay blocked unless you log out and log in again?

I never bothered with adblockers before. Never needed them. But since I've come back to Mumsnet, I had to install them on both my laptops because the site was unusable without (the Great MacAfee Scam for a start). So there's something ironic in my installation of Adblocker just so I can use Mumsnet which is now going to stop me using Mumsnet...

I saw the thread has received more responses and thought MNHQ had finally decided to reply to some of the very valid and reasonable questions. Got to say I'm disappointed to see that most questions remain unanswered.

Anyone remember Miranda’s friend Tilly?

“…bear with….bear with…bear with…”

@BeckyAMumsnet , are you able to confirm whether or not those who are already logged on, and previously had their privacy settings as 'Reject All', have had their settings amended behind the scenes without their knowledge?

Many thanks

They definitely have as up until last night, every time I log in I scroll to the bottom to reject cookies. This morning that’s all changed. 😡
I purposely don’t continue on sites if it won’t let me reject cookies - I’m actually upset about mn as I have saved threads which helped me through some very tough health times with my dc. It’s nice to still see them as a reminder of how horrendous times were, and how we got through them. I feel I have no choice but to leave mn.. but my goodness, it’s difficult when I look through my account

That's a shame @frazzledbutcalm , could you copy and paste some of it into a Word document so you have a record? Alternatively, do you have a spare phone or laptop that you could use just for accessing MN? That way you couldn't be tracked to any other site.

I tend to stay logged on all the time, so there's no way I would have known about my privacy settings being changed for me. There are a few threads I'm interested in, but once those go cold I will call it a day. I can't be faffed with having to delete all my cookies every time I use MN as it means I have to log in to all my regular sites again each time.

Can anyone explain why they have such a massive aversion to cookies that they would stop using MN? I feel like I’m missing something.

Why do you feel you have to delete them? You clearly accept them from other sites.

I object to being described as a freeloader. Justine wouldn’t make any money without the users and treating them as idiots and cash cows is frankly disgusting.

i deregistered before when there was a data breach and personal details were leaked as well as bank account details and am now considering deregistering again and this time i wont come back.
Maybe it’s time the site died.

With respect, I don't feel I should have to justify or explain my reasons for not wanting to accept cookies from the majority of sites.

Cookies track you. They log and track everything you view in order to build a profile of you that can be sold to others. I think that's pretty sinister.

To try and sell me stuff.

I mean, I've got a nectar card and I'm less happy about that.

Another night of obscene images posted on threads. What a fucking shitshow

You're kidding!? So the filters aren't working!?

nope!

Thread about it on AIBU, apparently happened last night as well, this time via links 😡

I previously had "reject all" and remain logged in permanently. However, the first time I visited after this new policy was introduced, there was a popup with the "pay or accept" message, requiring me to choose.