Consent, Global Privacy Control, and what your viewers see
Which viewers see the banner, what declining changes about your analytics, and what HoldFast handles for you without a line of configuration.
You do not need to build a consent flow to share work through HoldFast. Viewers in regions that require consent see a banner before any device-level tracking starts, browsers that send Global Privacy Control are treated as declined automatically, and when a viewer declines you still keep company-level analytics. Nothing to configure, on any plan. Here is exactly how it behaves.
What your viewers see
In the EU and EEA plus Switzerland, the UK, and California, anyone opening your review link, reel, or presentation gets a bar at the bottom of the page: "This link uses cookies and similar tech so the sender can see engagement analytics, like watch time." It offers two equal buttons, Decline and Allow, a Preferences link, and the Privacy Policy. Until they answer, HoldFast behaves as if they declined; nothing device-level fires while the banner waits.
The banner your EU, UK, and California viewers see: one plain sentence, two equal buttons.
The Preferences panel separates Essential access (always on, like remembering a password they entered) from the Engagement analytics toggle, and it tells the viewer plainly that even a declined view is still visible to you at the page level, without identifying their device.
The preference center separates essential access cookies from the engagement analytics toggle.
Two honest details. A viewer whose location cannot be determined sees the banner too: HoldFast asks rather than assumes. Everyone else sees no banner; their disclosure lives in the privacy pages linked from every public footer.
Global Privacy Control
GPC is a browser setting that broadcasts an opt-out to every site. HoldFast treats a browser sending it as declined, in every region, with no banner shown: the viewer has already answered. There is no per-link override, and that is deliberate.
What declining changes about your analytics
Less than you might fear, and we will not pretend it is nothing.
- You keep the view. It still records, still appears in Insights, and still resolves to a company when the network signal is strong.
- You lose continuity. No device identifier, no fingerprinting, no persistent cookie. A declined viewer who returns tomorrow looks brand new, so they build no engagement score and never trigger a returning-viewer story.
- What a viewer volunteers still attributes. Opening a personalized link addressed to them, or typing an email into a gate, is the viewer telling you who they are.
Everything promised in how to see who watched your video is written to stay true under this rule.
Your responsibilities as the sender
HoldFast supplies the mechanics: the banner, the GPC handling, the regional gating, and the legal pages. It cannot speak for you. If your client relationship or your own jurisdiction calls for a notice of your own, give one. And when a viewer asks what you hold about them, or asks you to delete it, the Data Explorer answers both. Open the viewer's detail page and click Export data (JSON) for a complete copy, or Erase viewer for a typed-confirmation deletion. The erase removes their identity, devices, sessions, and scores, and anonymizes the events they leave behind.
Questions
Do all my viewers see the consent banner?
No. It appears for viewers in the EU and EEA plus Switzerland, the UK, and California, and for viewers whose location cannot be determined, because HoldFast asks rather than assumes. Everyone else sees no banner; for them the disclosure lives in the privacy pages linked from every public footer.
Can a viewer change their answer later?
Yes. Review links and reels carry a Cookie Preferences link in the page footer that reopens the preference center, and a new choice takes effect right away.
Does a declined view still count?
Yes. The view records, shows up in Insights, and resolves to a company when the network signal is strong. What it cannot do is recognize that viewer when they come back, so no engagement score builds and no returning-viewer story fires for them.
Can I turn the banner off for a specific link?
No. The consent gate and Global Privacy Control handling apply to every review link, reel, and presentation, on every plan. That consistency is what lets you promise clients the same privacy behavior everywhere.
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