Overview

Meta (formerly Facebook) is updating its advertising platform—including the Meta Pixel and Conversions API—to align with evolving data‑protection rules. In the European Union and other jurisdictions, websites must now secure a user’s explicit consent before first- or third‑party cookies are used for advertising or analytics. If you use the Meta Pixel or Conversions API on your website, these updates matter for your compliance with privacy laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

Meta Consent Mode works with your Consent Management Platform (CMP) to respect a user’s privacy choices while still providing aggregated insights for your advertising campaigns. When consent is granted, Meta’s tracking tools operate normally; when consent is denied, the system switches to privacy‑preserving measurement techniques.

Key Features

Meta Consent Mode offers the following capabilities:

• Tailoring data collection: You can adjust how the Meta Pixel and Conversions API track visitors based on whether they have granted or denied consent.
• Controlling cookie access: The consent settings allow you to determine when Meta cookies and tracking scripts are loaded, ensuring cookies are only used when permitted.
• Collecting limited data: Even if a visitor declines advertising cookies, the Pixel can still collect anonymized or aggregated information to provide a high‑level understanding of campaign performance.
• Real‑time consent updates: When a user changes their consent preferences, Secure Privacy sends a grant or revoke signal to Meta. This immediately enables or disables Meta tracking so no unauthorized data collection occurs.

How It Works (Technical Implementation)

Consent Mode is controlled through the Meta Pixel’s fbq('consent', …) command. Secure Privacy sets a default consent value on every page load before the user interacts with the cookie banner. In the EU and other regions with stricter privacy regulations, the default is revoked, whereas in jurisdictions with looser regulations the default may be granted.

The possible values are:

Default Behavior

Secure Privacy automatically sets the consent value on page load based on the user’s location. For example, EU visitors will typically see the consent value set to revoke by default. Once the visitor interacts with your CMP banner and grants marketing consent, the system calls fbq('consent', 'grant') to activate the Meta Pixel and Conversions API.

Granting or Revoking Consent

When a user changes their preference via the CMP banner, Secure Privacy sends a corresponding consent signal:

• Grant: fbq('consent', 'grant') — this activates the Meta Pixel. Requests to Facebook are allowed, and first‑ and third‑party cookies are written.
• Revoke: fbq('consent', 'revoke') — this disables advertising tracking. No new cookies are set, and only aggregated, non‑advertising data may be processed.

This feature is implemented in Secure Privacy and can be enabled or disabled via a simple toggle.

How to Enable Meta Consent Mode in Secure Privacy

Activating Meta Consent Mode in your Secure Privacy dashboard is quick and straightforward:

1. Navigate to Domain Settings: Log in to Secure Privacy and choose the domain you want to configure. Go to Domain Settings.
2. Open the Advanced tab: Inside Domain Settings, select the Advanced tab. Locate Meta Consent Mode on this screen.

   
   

3. Enable Meta Consent Mode: Turn this toggle on. Once enabled, Secure Privacy will begin sending grant or revoke signals to Meta based on your users’ preferences.

After enabling the toggle, ensure that your Meta Pixel and Conversions API implementations are updated to use the fbq('consent', …) calls. 

Test your setup by visiting the site without accepting the banner (no Meta requests should be sent) and then granting consent to confirm that requests are triggered and cookies are placed.