Surfshark introduces Cookie popup blocker

Cybersecurity company Surfshark added a new feature to its browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox called the Cookie popup blocker. An upgraded add-on will help remove all cookie consent popups from the website’s users visit.

In addition to CleanWeb, StaticIP, and Multihop, the Cookie popup blocker is unique to Surfshark, among other VPN providers.

“When browsing websites, people are frequently forced to accept cookies before they can access the content. Unfortunately, too often, designs manipulate users into clicking ‘yes,’ while certain websites have been found ignoring people’s choices entirely,” says Vytautas Kaziukonis, CEO of Surfshark. “Inspired by the overarching frustrations, we’ve decided to develop a new feature to our browser extensions that will help bypass cookie consent popups.”

Cookie popups (otherwise known as cookie consent popups or banners) are notifications people get when entering websites that have to comply with transparency requirements defined by the General Data Protection Directive (GDPR) of the European Union. They usually ask users to provide consent for these websites to collect browsing information.

Surfshark’s Cookie popup blocker employs CSS rules and network request blocking to hide popup elements as well as block specific network requests. If these two methods fail, the feature automatically chooses “accept.”

The turnout of these steps depends on how the website has implemented its consent cookies. For example, some websites apply cookies to their users’ by default until they click “reject.” Other websites, like Google, run this element until you click “accept.”

The Cookie popup blocker is meant to enhance Surfshark users’ web experience by helping to bypass cookie consent popups. The feature ensures that users don’t see any popups. However, it’s not meant to enhance privacy protection but rather to improve the user’s browsing experience.

To help its users bypass consent popups, Surfshark is offering its new feature to all Surfshark VPN subscribers. Users that want to try Surfshark new Cookie Popup Blocker can find it via Chrome extension. Whereas, Firefox version will be added later this year.