TL;DR: Your website tracking is likely illegal in the EU, UK, and California. Australia’s joining the party in 2024. Here’s how to not get sued. 👇
Listen, I had a client nearly shit themselves last week.
Why? They just realized they’ve been illegally tracking thousands of European visitors for years. Oops.
Here’s the thing: If you’re slapping GA4, Facebook Pixels, or any tracking tags on your site without proper consent management, you’re playing with fire. 🔥
The Privacy Apocalypse Is Coming to Australia
After 15+ years of implementing tracking solutions for Australian businesses, here’s what’s keeping me up at night:
- It’s already illegal to track ANY visitors from:
- European Union
- United Kingdom
- California
- Australia’s Privacy Act is getting a facelift in 2024
- Cookie consent becomes mandatory
- Those cute “We use cookies” banners won’t cut it
- Fines that’ll make your accountant cry
“But Brad, I Already Have a Cookie Banner!”
Yeah, and I have a gym membership. Doesn’t mean I’m using it right.
Here’s what most Australian websites get wrong:
- Installing random cookie popups from WordPress
- Not integrating with Google Tag Manager
- Tracking users before getting consent
- Missing documentation of consent
How to Actually Fix This (The Right Way)
After auditing 100+ websites this year, here’s your gameplan:
- Choose the Right CMP (Cookie Consent Platform)
- Must integrate with your tag manager
- Needs to block scripts pre-consent
- Should provide consent documentation
- Configure Google Tag Manager Properly
- Implement consent-based trigger groups
- Set up proper data layer events
- Test, test, and test again
The Cost of Getting This Wrong
Fun fact: Google got fined €150 million for making their cookie consent button too complicated.
That’s like getting a speeding ticket for your car being the wrong shade of blue.
What You Should Do Right Now
- Check if you’re getting EU/UK/California traffic
- Audit your current tracking setup
- Install a Cookie Consent platorm
- Hook all of your GTM triggers to the Cookie Consent platform
The Bottom Line
The privacy train is coming to Australia, and it’s coming fast. You can either:
- Ignore it (and risk massive fines)
- Half-ass it (and waste money)
- Do it right (and sleep better)
Your choice.
Brad Farleigh is a technical marketer and web developer based in Perth, Australia. He spends his days as CTO of Bang Digital, and his nights tinkering with his e-commerce projects. Follow his adventures on Twitter @BradFarleigh
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