Case Studies JustSayNo: auto-rejecting cookie banners
JustSayNo: auto-rejecting cookie banners
TL;DR Cookie banners are designed to make accepting easy and rejecting hard. JustSayNo finds the Reject All option on the banners you meet and clicks it for you, so you decline non-essential tracking by default without the dark-pattern friction.
Cookie banners are a masterclass in dark patterns. Accept is a big bright button; reject is a grey link two menus deep, if it exists at all. The asymmetry is the point: make the privacy-eroding choice the easy one. JustSayNo flips that, by clicking reject for you.
The problem
Under privacy law, sites have to ask before setting non-essential cookies. In practice, many comply with the letter and violate the spirit. The consent UI is engineered so that accepting takes one tap and rejecting takes effort, or hides behind "manage preferences" and a wall of toggles.
Faced with that friction dozens of times a day, most people just click accept to move on. The design wins, and privacy loses by exhaustion.
The approach
The fix is to remove the friction from the private choice.
- Find the reject. Recognise the common consent banner frameworks and locate their reject or decline control.
- Click it automatically. Decline non-essential tracking by default, so the user does not have to hunt for the option every time.
Because banners vary wildly, the honest approach is to cover the widespread frameworks well and keep expanding, rather than pretend to handle every custom banner on the web.
What shipped
JustSayNo automatically clicks Reject All on the cookie banners it recognises, so you decline tracking by default and reclaim a little privacy on every site, one click you no longer have to make. The banners still appear where they must, but the annoying part, the hunt for the reject option, is handled.
What I learned building it
The lesson was that the enemy here is intentional design, not a technical gap. Sites know exactly where the reject option is; they just make it hard to reach. Automating against that means keeping up with the consent frameworks and their patterns, which is an ongoing chase rather than a one-time fix. It is a small tool against a deliberate friction, and that is exactly why it is satisfying to use.
JustSayNo is one of my browser tools. The full set is in the Chrome extensions section of the site.
FAQ
Why not just accept cookies to make the banner go away?
Accepting opts you into non-essential tracking, which is exactly what the banner's design is nudging you toward. Rejecting protects your privacy, but sites often bury the reject option. Automating the reject click gives you the private choice without the friction.
How does the extension find the Reject button?
It recognises the common consent banner frameworks and patterns sites use, and targets the reject or decline control within them. Because banners vary, it focuses on the widespread ones and improves coverage over time.
Does rejecting cookies break websites?
Rejecting non-essential cookies should not break a well-built site, since essential cookies still work. Occasionally a site ties functionality to consent, but for the vast majority, declining tracking leaves the site fully usable.