🍪 Cookie Truth Analyzer
"Cookie Honesty" Checker Tool. Discover if that "Decline Cookies" button actually works
The Cookie Button Lie:
What Really Happens When You Click Decline."Many websites claim to respect your privacy with a 'Decline Cookies' button - but in reality, most of these buttons don't actually block tracking cookies. They simply close the banner while hidden scripts continue to run in the background. At The Laughing Professor, we believe in real transparency - no trick banners, no tracking behind your back."
Technically true:
Clicking "Decline" on some websites doesn't always stop cookies - it just hides the banner. Many sites are built so that only marketing or tracking cookies are toggled off (if even that), while essential or "necessary" cookies still load by default.Ethically shady:
Some sites flat-out ignore the decline. They preload analytics or advertising scripts before you even interact with the banner, meaning your data's already been shared before you had the chance to opt out. The "Decline" button just gives the illusion of control.What it should do (legally speaking):
In places covered by GDPR (like the EU or UK), clicking "Decline" should: Block all non-essential cookies (marketing, analytics, etc.). Only allow necessary cookies (like login sessions or cart functionality). If it doesn't, that's technically a violation of GDPR/PECR standards.The reality:
Many "cookie consent" systems are poorly implemented - or intentionally designed to manipulate you into accepting. The most honest implementations use cookie management frameworks (like Cookiebot or OneTrust) that actually respect user choice.So yes - true for a lot of websites: "Declining" is just a button, not a guarantee.
It is possible to use DEV console to test in real time what is going on when you click the 'Decline Button', by entering this snippet in to the Dev Console:
// Reveal what cookies exist after interacting with consent banners
console.log("===
Current cookies ===");
console.log(document.cookie.split("; ").join("\n")
|| "No cookies found.");// List all localStorage + sessionStorage
items (often used for tracking)
console.log("\n=== Local Storage ===");
for
(let i = 0; i < localStorage.length; i++) {
console.log(localStorage.key(i)
+ " = " + localStorage.getItem(localStorage.key(i)));
}
console.log("\n===
Session Storage ===");
for (let i = 0; i < sessionStorage.length; i++)
{
console.log(sessionStorage.key(i) + " = " + sessionStorage.getItem(sessionStorage.key(i)));
}
//
Check for common 3rd-party trackers or analytics scripts
console.log("\n===
External tracking scripts loaded ===");
[...document.scripts].forEach(s
=> {
if (s.src.match(/google|analytics|tagmanager|facebook|doubleclick|adservice|quant|hotjar|bing|yahoo|tiktok|criteo|segment/i))
{
console.log("Possible tracker:", s.src);
}
});
How to use it: