Common Cookie Compliance Challenges and Solutions

Your business likely has cookies and other online trackers on its websites. These trackers are valuable for their ability to improve user experiences online and generate revenue streams through targeted advertising. However, to rely upon them, you must ensure your Consent Management Platform (CMP) is properly configured to comply with laws like the GDPR, CCPA, other US state privacy laws, and the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA). Improperly configured cookies can also expose businesses to lawsuits.

Properly implementing CMPs can be technically difficult and present compliance challenges that businesses may not be aware of. In this article, we’ll explore common cookie challenges and solutions to overcome them.

1. Underestimating the Complexity of Cookies

Cookie compliance is not as simple as displaying a banner. Websites often load dozens or even hundreds of trackers, some intentionally implemented, others unintentionally piggybacking through tag managers, hard-coded scripts, third-party scripts, session replay tools, chat widgets, A/B testing platforms, and analytics suites. These trackers behave differently depending on the device, page, user behavior, and browser settings, making compliance a moving target.

Solutions
Start by performing a full technical scan of your website using a reputable provider capable of identifying HTTP cookies, HTML5 storage, session replay scripts, and network calls. Pair automated scans with manual developer review to find dynamically injected trackers. Organizations should also map all trackers to categories and legal purposes (e.g., “strictly necessary,” “analytics,” “advertising”). Once you understand what’s actually firing, you can implement controls that match your policy statements and consent requirements.

2. Misinterpreting Consent Requirements Across Jurisdictions

Privacy laws do not align on consent requirements. Under the GDPR cookies require opt-in consent and loading them before consent is a violation. The CCPA allows businesses to use many trackers by default, but they must provide notice and the right to opt out of cross-context behavioral advertising. Companies often apply a “one-size-fits-all” banner globally and unintentionally violate stricter jurisdictions.

Solutions
Implement a geolocation-aware consent platform that adapts the banner, consent mode, and tracking behavior based on the visitor’s legal jurisdiction. Use templates designed for GDPR, CCPA, and other state privacy laws rather than trying to rely on the same banner for all. Regularly review your global footprint to ensure consent logic aligns with updated regulatory interpretations and enforcement trends.

3. Only Completing “Phase 1” of Cookie Tool Implementation

Many businesses set up a banner, and assume they’re done, but that isn’t the case. Consent tools typically have two phases of implementation: Phase 1 is banner design, and Phase 2 is blocking configuration. Phase 2 is critical but often skipped due to a lack of knowledge surrounding the implementation steps, complexity, resource constraints, or a misunderstanding of vendor requirements. If businesses only complete Phase 1, the CMP will not effectuate the consumers preference. Without Phase 2, the banner becomes a decorative element, not a compliance mechanism.

Solutions
Follow through on the full implementation, including banner design and blocking. This can mean setting up tag manager conditions, applying prior-blocking templates, testing in multiple browsers, and validating that cookies are not set until consent is given. Run periodic tests to ensure new scripts added by marketing or development teams are also subject to blocking logic.

4. Not Accounting for CIPA

The California Invasion of Privacy Act is a wiretapping law that plaintiffs often use to file lawsuits when tracking begins before consent is given. Session replay tools, chat widgets, and other trackers that transmit user keystrokes, clicks, or chat messages to third parties can expose companies to CIPA lawsuit risks. Even if GDPR and CCPA compliance looks adequate, organizations often miss this separate risk category, especially when web trackers record user interactions on pages containing sensitive data.

Solutions
Audit all session replay technologies, chat-as-a-service platforms, and behavioral analytics tools. Determine whether the tool captures communications content (e.g., messages, form inputs) that could trigger CIPA risk. If so, implement measures like user consent before interaction, strict masking settings, self-hosting, or, where appropriate, removing the trackers entirely. Work with counsel to align your disclosures, placement, and risk posture.

5. Choosing Tools Without Understanding Technical Compatibility

Companies frequently select a CMP based solely on cost or design, then discover it doesn’t integrate cleanly with their CMS, tag manager, CDN, or analytics stack. Incompatibility leads to partial blocking, duplicate scripts, broken pages, or tools that cannot manage certain types of trackers, resulting in accidental non-compliance.

Solutions
Before purchasing, run a technical compatibility assessment. Confirm whether the tool supports your tag manager (e.g., GTM, Tealium), your CMS (e.g., WordPress, Drupal, Adobe Experience Manager), and your hosting configuration. Ask about limitations with server-side tagging, single-page applications, or dynamically injected scripts. Pilot the solution on a staging environment and validate its performance during real user flows before rolling it out.

6. Lack of Internal Ownership and Alignment

Cookie compliance often falls between departments, marketing manages tags, developers manage the website, privacy teams manage policies, and legal teams interpret regulations. Without a clear owner, cookie compliance becomes a patchwork of sporadic fixes, inconsistent updates, and miscommunication when new trackers are added.

Solutions
Clearly designate cookie compliance responsibilities. Create a documented review process for adding new scripts or pixels, including tagging requests, approvals, and testing. Hold quarterly cross-functional reviews to maintain alignment and ensure everyone understands the compliance and litigation risks.

7. Not Following Vendor Documentation

Most cookie consent tools provide detailed documentation for proper configuration, including specific steps for blocking scripts, setting consent types per region, and integrating with Google Consent Mode, Meta pixels, and other platforms. But many organizations fail to fully utilize these resources, resulting in half-configured implementations and persistent compliance gaps.

Solutions
Thoroughly review official documentation and follow the prescribed implementation steps. Use vendor tutorials and support tickets to clarify areas where your environment has unique needs. If internal expertise is limited, consider hiring outside help to ensure the setup is correct the first time.

8. No Ongoing Monitoring or Governance

Websites change constantly. Marketing teams add scripts, developers make changes on the backend, and third-party tools release patches that alter tracking behavior. Without continuous monitoring, a compliant setup can quickly become non-compliant. Regulators and plaintiffs’ attorneys increasingly expect documented ongoing oversight, not a one-time deployment.

Solutions
Establish a cookie compliance governance program that includes periodic website scans, reviews of new tags, automated alerts for new trackers, and annual policy updates. Maintain evidence of this monitoring to demonstrate accountability. Integrate cookie compliance into your broader privacy management lifecycle so that governance becomes an ongoing operational process.

The Costs of Noncompliant Cookies and Website Consent and Privacy Functionality

Multiple businesses have been hit with CCPA fines stemming from cookies that weren’t functioning as required.

• Sling TV was hit with a $530,000 penalty for violations surrounding easy opt-out methods and children’s privacy.
• Clothing retailer Todd Snyder was fined $345,178 for not honoring opt-out requests for 40 days and requiring consumers to verify their identity to opt out of the sale or sharing of their data.
• Healthline was fined $1.55 million for not honoring opt-outs from its cookie preference center.

CompliancePoint offers Cookie Management Services to help businesses configure their cookies and other privacy and consent tools correctly, so they stay compliant and avoid costly fines and lawsuits. Reach out to us at connect@compliancepoint.com to learn more about how we can help.

Cookie Podcast

To learn more about proper cookie implementation, watch our Solving Website Cookie Configuration and Compliance Challenges podcast episode below.