Precedent corpus / EDPB (European Data Protection Board)

European Data Protection Board

EDPB (European Data Protection Board) case GL-03-2022, decided 2023-02-14. No monetary penalty (reprimand or guidance).

Regulator guidance (positive exemplar)

What the regulator decided

Interface design choices that "influence users in a way that infringes on the fairness, transparency or data-protection-by-design principles of the GDPR" constitute deceptive design patterns; the Guidelines identify six categories - overloading, skipping, stirring, obstructing, fickle, and left in the dark - and state that these patterns, where they steer users towards a specific decision contrary to their data protection interests, breach Articles 5(1)(a), 12, 13, 24 and 25 GDPR.

Primary source

Regulator-owned URL. Quote this in legal briefs and academic citations.

https://www.edpb.europa.eu/our-work-tools/our-documents/guidelines/guidelines-032022-deceptive-design-patterns-social-media_en

Archived snapshot

Wayback Machine snapshot of the primary source. Use this when the regulator URL might be refactored or expire.

https://web.archive.org/web/20240519080404/https://www.edpb.europa.eu/our-work-tools/our-documents/guidelines/guidelines-032022-deceptive-design-patterns-social-media_en

ConsentMark interpretation

Operator-readable note on how this case shapes the ConsentMark scanner narrative. Not a legal opinion; cites the primary source.

[Type: guidance] Non-enforcement guideline. Cite when the scanner observes a deliberately-asymmetric consent UI - the EDPB has assigned these specific category names ("obstructing" for reject-behind-settings, "stirring" for emotional-colour nudging, "skipping" for default opt-in) so the narrative can name the pattern rather than paraphrase it. The EDPB Cookie Banner Taskforce Report 02/2023 cross-references this taxonomy when grading specific complaints.

Verification trail

Verified by: donal
Verified at: 2026-05-26
Review due: 2026-11-26

Cite this case

Pick the format that matches where you are pasting. The methodology version is preserved in every variant so the citation stays verifiable after future methodology changes.

BibTeX

@misc{consentmark-precedent-edpb-gl-03-2022,
  author       = {{ConsentMark}},
  year         = {2023},
  title        = {EDPB (European Data Protection Board) GL-03-2022 - European Data Protection Board},
  howpublished = {\url{https://www.consentmark.com/precedent/edpb-gl-03-2022}},
  note         = {ConsentMark methodology v1.3}
}

APA

ConsentMark. (2023, February 14). EDPB (European Data Protection Board) GL-03-2022 - European Data Protection Board. Methodology v1.3. https://www.consentmark.com/precedent/edpb-gl-03-2022

Markdown

[EDPB (European Data Protection Board) GL-03-2022 - European Data Protection Board - ConsentMark](https://www.consentmark.com/precedent/edpb-gl-03-2022)

Plain text

EDPB (European Data Protection Board) GL-03-2022 - European Data Protection Board - ConsentMark, 2023-02-14, methodology v1.3, https://www.consentmark.com/precedent/edpb-gl-03-2022