Amendment 464· Digital Omnibus proposal Recital 46

Wordingagainst the Commission’s

(46) Data subjects should have the possibility to rely on automated and machine-readable indications of their choice to consent or refuse a consent request or object to the processing of data. Such means should follow the state of the art. They can be implemented in the settings of a web browser or inoperating the EU Digital Identity Wallet as set out by Regulation (EU) 914/2014systems, or any other adequate means. Rules set out in this Regulation should support the emergence of market-driven solutions with appropriate interfaces. The controller should be obliged to respect automated and machine-readable indications of data subject’s choices once there are available standards. In light of the importance of independent journalism in a democratic society and in order not to undermine the economic basis for that, media service providers should not be obliged to respect the machine-readable indications of data subject’s choices. The obligation for providers of web browsers to provide the technical means for data subjects to make choices with respect to the processing should not undermine the possibility for media service providers to request consent by data subjects.To simplify interactions across the digital ecosystem and prevent consent fatique, data subjects should have the posibility to configure their general privacy pereferences globally and centrally within the settings of their web browser or operating systems. At the same time, to perserve a high degree of choice granularity and foster a competative market for innovative privacy-enhancing services within the Union, data subjects should have the option to delegate the dynamic management of these preferences to independent third-party software applications, browser extentions, or automated consent agents acting on their behalf. Providers of web browsers and operating systems should ensure their underlining technical infrastructure natively supports such tools, and should present users upon first use with a clear prompt to select their preferred configuration. Furthermore, data subjects should not face technical barriers or artificial degradation of service functionality when choosing to safeguard their privacy. Providers of web browsers and operating systems, as well as online service providers, should therefore not be allowed from restricting, denying or limiting access to their interfaces or core features merely because data subjects use privacy-enhancing technologies, such as Virtual Private Networks, or broweser extentions, provided that these tools comply with technical specificiations established by harmonised standards. To allow further choices for users and ensure granuality, and in light of the importance of independent journalism in a democratic society and in order not to undermine their economic basis and the need to protect its economic sustainability, data subjects should have the practical options to import pre-configured recommemded choices, which may come, for example, as whilelists to allow interaction with trusted online interfaces, such as editorially independent media service providers, which would therefore be granted a specfic exception. In this way, an exception for media service provided would not only ensure that automated signals do not inadvertenly cut off revenue for public interest media, but would also spare these providers from having to deploy standalone pop-up windows to obtain consent. Therefore, media service providers providing news and current affairs content that comply with the editorial independence standards of Regulation (EU) 2024/1083 should have the right to have their online interfaces included in recommended whitelists maintained by web browsers or operating systems, or third-party agents. To ensure user autonomy remains paramount, web browsers and operating systems should explicitly and neutrally prompt the data subject upon first use to allow this specific media exception. Finally, to maintain the integrity of this choice ecosystem, providers of web browsers and operating systems should be acting strictly as neutral technical conduits, while those acting as a core service providers should be prohibited from processing, analyzing, or capitalising on the privacy choices expressed by the user for any secondary purpose other than transmitting the signal.

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