How EU’s Data Protection Regulation Affected News and Media Websites
A longitudinal study found that after the EU implemented the GDPR, both EU and US news websites initially reduced user tracking, but tracking later increased again. EU sites made more use of consent mechanisms and ended up with lower tracking levels than before. Despite new restrictions, EU news sites continued producing as much content and maintained similar visitor engagement as US sites. While there was a small drop in page views per user in the EU, other engagement metrics were unaffected. Researchers found no evidence supporting claims that GDPR would harm content production or engagement, though they did not study long-term effects or user experience quality.
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