Privacy regulation in digital markets increasingly relies on consent mechanisms implemented through user interfaces. While legal rules define the conditions under which consent must be obtained, interface design determines how easy it is to refuse data collection. This paper conceptualises consent interfaces as behavioural implementations of regulation and focuses on two measurable features of consent design: rejection friction and visual salience asymmetry. Using structured data on 8,000 domains from the Tranco ranking, analysed through the Consent Observatory tool, this paper examines consent interfaces across Poland, France, the Netherlands, and an additional global benchmark. The main comparison focuses on the three European country samples. The results show systematic differences in how refusal is structured.
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The Behavioural Implementation of Privacy Regulation: Friction, Salience, and the Implicit Price of Consent
Examining consent interfaces across Poland, France, the Netherlands, and an additional global benchmark suggests that the implicit cost of refusing data collection depends not only on the formal existence of options, but also on how refusal is structured and presented, including through the intermediary systems that shape consent interfaces.