Where the banner shows
How the banner follows the law where each visitor is, and how to change it for a place.
The banner does what the law asks in the place each visitor is in. It works out the visitor’s country, and in the US and Canada their state or province, then does one of three things. This page describes the rules in force today (release 2026.09.2). Updates that are already scheduled are listed under Scheduled changes.
| Visitors see | What runs before they choose | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Asks first | Only what the site needs to work. | The EU (including France’s overseas regions and Åland), Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, the UK, Quebec, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Vietnam, Thailand, Turkey, South Africa, Nigeria, China, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia; Chile from 1 December 2026 and India from 13 May 2027 |
| Opt-out link | Everything, until the visitor opts out. Where the law asks for one, a “Your privacy choices” link is added to your footer. | The 19 US states with a privacy law in force, including California, Texas, Virginia and Colorado; Canada outside Quebec; South Korea |
| No banner | Everything. A settings link stays available. | Everywhere no law asks for a banner, including US states without a privacy law, and Florida, whose law only covers very large companies |
Four more US states have privacy laws with a start date, and the banner switches to an opt-out link there on that day: Oklahoma and Louisiana on 1 January 2027, Alabama on 1 May 2027 and Vermont on 1 January 2028.
The full list, with the reason for each place, is on your site’s Banner tab under Where it shows, then See every place.
Your own visit statistics
Some countries let a site count its own visits without asking first, under certain conditions. You don’t have to fill anything in: our site check looks at which analytics your site runs and decides whether they qualify.
Under the rules in force today, no place where the banner asks first lets them run without asking yet, so visitors there are asked about statistics too. That changes with the scheduled updates: in the UK, Switzerland, Brazil and South Africa with 2026.09.3, and in France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands with 2026.09.5 (see Scheduled changes).
- Tools that can qualify: Matomo, Piwik PRO, Piano Analytics and etracker, when they measure your site alone.
- Tools that can’t: Google Analytics, Adobe, Hotjar, Clarity and others whose providers use the data themselves. Visitors are asked first wherever the law says so.
- Cookieless tools (Plausible, Fathom, Simple Analytics, Umami, Cloudflare Web Analytics) store nothing on the device and need no consent anywhere, so they run for everyone.
Browser opt-out signals
Visitors whose browser sends Global Privacy Control are opted out automatically wherever a law requires the signal to be honoured. Today that covers 12 of the 19 US states with a privacy law in force, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Texas and New Jersey. In California the banner also confirms the opt-out on screen (“Opt-out request honored”), as California has required since January 2026. See Footer link for where the link goes.
Changing it
On the Banner tab, under Where it shows:
- Follow the law where each visitor is is the default and the setting we recommend.
- Ask first everywhere asks every visitor, wherever they are. You may collect less data.
- Ask first in California too is stricter than California’s law. Some sites choose it to lower the risk of lawsuits over tracking pixels. It stays off unless you turn it on.
- About your business is where you say how large your business is. Most US state privacy laws only cover businesses above a certain size. Under today’s rules every US state law applies to every site. From the 2026.09.3 update, the state rules use your answers, and until you answer we assume every law covers you.
- See every place lets you choose what happens in a single country or state. Your choice there overrides every other setting.
When the law changes
We keep these rules up to date. When a new law has a start date, the banner switches over by itself on that day. See How we keep you compliant.
Asking again
The banner remembers a choice, yes or no, for six months and then asks again. You can change this under Ask again after (days) in the Banner tab’s Advanced settings. Visitors are also asked again whenever you save a change to the banner’s settings, for example after adding an ad pixel.
Scheduled changes
Each update spends a week on trial and 48 hours on 5% of sites before it reaches everyone (see How we keep you compliant).
2026.09.3, rolling out now (currently on 5% of sites):
- US state laws apply only to the businesses they cover, using your answers under About your business. Until you answer, every law applies as before.
- In the UK, Switzerland, Brazil and South Africa, statistics that qualify run from the start. If there is nothing else to ask about, visitors there see a small notice with a way to turn statistics off.
- Israel and Singapore get a small notice. Statistics and preferences run, and advertising waits until the visitor agrees.
- Canada outside Quebec and Mexico get a notice that says what the site uses and lets visitors turn it off, while everything runs. Canada keeps its “Your privacy choices” link.
- Chile (until its new law starts in December) and Argentina ask first.
- Delaware’s law covers more businesses from 1 January 2027.
2026.09.4, starting on 5 October 2026:
- Egypt asks first from 1 November 2026.
2026.09.5, starting on 15 October 2026:
- In France (and its overseas regions), Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, statistics that qualify run without asking. If there is nothing else to ask about, visitors there see no banner.
- Each of these countries adds conditions. France and Spain require analytics cookies to last 13 months at most, which we check from outside. France and Italy require visitors’ IP addresses to be shortened. We can’t see that from outside, so if your tool can do it, the Banner tab asks you to confirm one setting and tells you where to find it. France also expects your privacy policy to offer a way to turn statistics off, so link to your cookie settings there (see Footer link).
Wherever statistics run from the start, the banner says they are on, and visitors can turn them off at any time.