How to block Cookie Consent Popups in Chrome, Edge and Firefox

In this post, we will show you how to do it Disable, block or bypass those annoying cookie consent pop-ups in Chrome, Edge and Firefox browsers. When browsing the web, we accept the browser cookies without knowing much about it. Some EU and other countries require websites to obtain visitor consent before setting cookies and that is why you will see these cookie consent pop-ups in your browser. If you find them annoying, don’t blame the website owners – they’re just following the requirements of your country’s local laws.

What is a cookie consent popup?

A cookie consent notification explicitly asks users for their consent before cookies are deployed. Some countries, including some EU countries, have required this and as a result websites are now required to get visitors’ permission before setting cookies. Once you accept them, you won’t be asked again for a while; However, if you use incognito mode, you will be asked every time you browse.

How to block cookie consent popups in Chrome

Here are the steps you need to follow to block the prompts that appear to obtain consent for cookies when using Google Chrome.

1. Open Chrome and click the three dots icon in the top right corner of the screen to go to browser settings
2. From the list of tabs on the left side of the screen, click the Privacy & Security tab
3. Choose ‘Cookies and Other Website Data‘ Possibility
4. Scroll down a bit to find those Block all cookies possibility

Next to this option is a warning stating that this is not recommended, along with a drop-down menu that you can use to see the consequences of enabling this option in your browser (cookies cannot make the browsing experience more targeted and practical and that this may not work on certain websites). Some websites or website logins may not even work!

How to disable cookie consent popups in Edge

The same process can be replicated on Microsoft Edge if that is your browser of choice. The steps are similar as below:

1. Open Microsoft Edge and click the ellipse icon to open Edge settings
2. Go to the “Cookies and site permissions” tab.
3. Now select “Manage and delete cookies and website data”, which will open a separate settings window
4. Here you turn the ‘Allow websites to save and read cookie data‘ Possibility.

If you do this on Edge, you face the same consequences as you do on Chrome, so make sure you’re clear about what you’re getting yourself into. Some websites or website logins may not even work!

How to bypass cookie consent popups in Firefox

Finally, we will discuss how to perform this operation in Firefox browser. It’s relatively easier and requires fewer steps to block cookie consent pop-ups on this browser. Let’s look at the steps you need to follow for this:

1. Open Firefox on your PC
2. In the upper right corner of the browser window you will find an icon with three lines. Click on it and then open the browser settings
3. Select the “Privacy & Security” tab.
4. Scroll down a bit and you’ll find the Strict Browsing Protection option under “Advanced Tracking Protection”. This would make your browsing experience much safer, but it would come at a cost

All you have to do now is enable this option to remove any cookie consent fields that would otherwise have been displayed.

Manage cookie consent popups using extensions

Not only are there built-in browser settings to block these cookie consent pop-ups, but there are also several browser extensions that can help you with that. Below we’ve discussed two such extensions that work in the browsers discussed here and can help you deal with those annoying cookie consent pop-ups.

Consent-O-Matic is an open-source browser extension that doesn’t exactly block these pop-ups for you, but automatically fills in your settings every time such a pop-up appears. Consent-O-Matic identifies all CMP (Consent Management Provider) pop-ups on the web and fills in the details as it sees fit. In cases where websites don’t use default categories, the extension tries its best to fill in the settings that it thinks best protect user’s privacy.

You can download the Consent-O-Matic Extension for Chrome and Firefox, or view the open source code on GitHub

Another reliable browser extension is by PrivacyCloud which is available across browsers under the name Consent Manager. It also does a pretty good job of getting rid of most of the cookie banners that pop up. If it ever detects a website that does not comply with the regulations and simply places cookies while browsing, it flags the illegal cookies offered. You can download it for Chrome and Firefox, check the source code on GitHub, or visit PrivacyCloud.com to see what else they have to offer.

Read: Reset Chrome browser settings in Windows to default

How to Block YouTube Prompt from Google

Every time you open the YouTube website in Google’s incognito window, you will be prompted for cookies and data. This is done for the simple reason that cookies are not regularly saved by the browser, being private browsing. If you find this prompt annoying while using YouTube in private browsing mode, you can disable it by following the steps below:

1. Open Google Chrome and in the address bar type “chrome://settings/cookies‘
2. Scroll down until you see the ‘Websites that can never use cookies‘ section and select the “Add” button there.
3. Enter ‘Consent.youtube.com‘, activate the including third-party cookies on this websiteand select Add

This would help you get rid of the cookie prompt.

Why do all websites ask for cookies?

A very basic question about cookies is why websites ask for them in the first place and it helps to understand them. Cookies are regularly stored and the reason websites are increasingly asking for them is because privacy and data protection laws are being tightened to improve data tracking and transparency.