What is The Ignored 'No'?
Clicking 'Reject All' feels final, but researchers found consent pop-ups that record a 'yes' before you answer — and some that keep that 'yes' stored even after you explicitly refuse. The banner remembers your choice; the trackers ignore it.
Where it comes from
Consent Management Platforms (2018)
How it hooks you
Exploits closure: once you have answered, the interaction feels settled, so almost no one verifies that the site actually obeyed.
What the research shows
A crawl of 1,426 European sites found 141 registered positive consent before the visitor clicked anything, and 27 stored a 'yes' even after an explicit refusal.
Source: Matte, Bielova & Santos, 'Do Cookie Banners Respect my Choice?' (IEEE S&P 2020)
How to resist it
Treat the banner as theater, not a contract: keep tracking protection on and periodically clear cookies for sites you've rejected, since your 'no' may never have reached the trackers.