Elon Musk, the entrepreneur turned-government official, who will soon lead the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE, of course) in the incoming Trump administration, has made it clear today: he doesn’t like cookie consent banners.
In a post today on X, Elon retweeted and replied to a tweet from Airbnb co-founder and X board member Joe Gebbia, highlighting that Europeans spend an estimated 575 million hours per year clicking through cookie approval prompts.
“Who’s in favor of rolling back cookie banners,” tweeted Gebbia. Here’s Elon’s reaction:
Not just annoying but “super annoying.” So, does this matter? Is this even a story? Why am I writing this?
A thought: with Elon now in a regulatory role, his opinions on digital ad regulations might soon have real-world policy implications. X, the platform he owns, has already been outspoken about ad policies and “regulations” it opposes. With Elon’s position in Washington, we may see that translate into broader national ad policy under DOGE or elsewhere. (This is pure speculation.)
Why This Matters:
In the U.S., cookie consent banners aren’t required by federal law, but many sites use them to comply with state privacy laws like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). These laws require businesses to inform users about data collection, disclose usage purposes, and provide a “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” option, making consent banners a way to meet these obligations.
U.S. sites with international visitors also use cookie banners to comply with the EU’s GDPR, which mandates consent for non-essential cookies.
Could Elon’s role in Washington signal a shift toward more relaxed data privacy policies in the U.S.? Possibly. He does own an ad platform, after all (that could use help), as well as a growing AI business, so he likely sees data collection as valuable.
Still, Elon has also historically been ambivalent about advertising and reluctant to integrate ads more deeply across his platforms. As we have seen with X, he has also been burned by the ad industry, so who knows. All of this raises questions about how supportive he’ll be of pro-adtech policies.
Experts React:
A true and good one from U of Digital’s Shiv Gupta:
Our Take:
Elon also made ad-related headlines today with a report from the FT, confirming our speculation the day after the election, finding that advertisers are, indeed, considering returning to X to curry favor with Musk and the new administration. As a comparable, this could be seen as similar to staying at a Trump Hotel as a show of indirect support or loyalty.
Are you actually surprised? The thought here, of course, is will this be worth it down the road when investigations over conflicts of interest ramp up. That will happen, at some point, based off of what we have seen over the last two elections.
