A cookie wall is a design pattern that blocks access to a website unless the user "accepts" cookies — sometimes offered as a binary "accept or pay" choice. Under the GDPR's freely-given-consent standard (Article 4(11), Recital 32), most cookie walls fail: if the user has no genuine alternative, the consent isn't valid. EDPB Guidelines 5/2020 and Opinion 08/2024 make this explicit — including for large platforms running pay-or-consent models like Meta's Facebook/Instagram. Austria's DPA has ruled cookie walls unlawful outright. A "soft wall" offering an equivalent free alternative can be lawful, but pure blockers typically aren't.