What consent has to be
Consent means freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous, by a statement or a clear affirmative action — and withdrawable at any time, as easily as it was given.
Why it is like this
Each adjective closes a loophole that existed before: bundling (specific), fine print (informed), pre-ticked boxes (unambiguous), and the power imbalance that makes a refusal costly (freely given).
Not to be confused with
A checkbox. A pre-ticked box, silence, inactivity, or consent bundled into the terms of service are all explicitly not consent — and consent is rarely valid between an employer and an employee, where refusal carries a cost.
In practice
Cookie walls, continued-browsing banners and "by signing up you agree to marketing" all fail. Separate opt-ins per purpose, unticked, with an equally visible reject, pass.
Source: Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) — Article 4(11) and Article 7. Read on .
Odd one out Check yourself
Three of these can invalidate consent on their own. Which one does not?
Show the answer
Consent was collected in writing rather than in the product
The medium is irrelevant — written, spoken and in-product consent are equally valid. The other three go to unambiguous, specific and freely given.