Microsoft Clarity Consent Mode is a feature designed to help website owners comply with privacy regulations like the GDPR, CCPA, and similar laws that require user consent before tracking or setting cookies. When integrated with WebToffee’s GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, it ensures that Microsoft Clarity only collects and processes user data after explicit consent is given, thereby aligning with legal requirements.
Clarity Consent Mode operates by relying on signals from your Consent Management Platform (CMP)—in this case, the WebToffee plugin—to determine whether cookies and tracking should be activated for a specific user session. Here’s how it typically operates:
- By default, Clarity sets cookies to track user behavior. Its tracking is paused until the CMP provides a consent signal or a custom script manually triggers it.
- CMP then signals user consent for analytics or advertisement cookies to Clarity using the Clarity API.
- CMP notifies Clarity when consent is granted. Once consent is signaled, Clarity starts tracking user behavior and setting cookies as necessary. The mapping between the CMP categories and the Claritiy cookies are done as follows:
| Cookie Name | Category | Purpose | Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|
| _clck | Analytics | Tracks user behavior across pages. | 1 year |
| _clsk | Analytics | Links multiple page views to a session. | 24 hours |
| CLID | Analytics | Identifies first-time users. | 1 year |
| MUID | Advertisement | Ad targeting and cross-domain tracking. | 1 year |
| ANONCHK | Advertisement | Ad performance and secure ad delivery. | Session |
Microsoft Clarity Consent Mode v2
Microsoft Clarity’s new Consent API V2 marks a significant step forward in privacy compliance and user transparency. Replacing the earlier all-or-nothing consent model, V2 introduces a granular consent system that lets users decide separately whether to allow Analytics or Advertising data collection. This ensures tracking only begins once explicit consent is granted. The difference between v1 and v2 is listed below:
| Consent mode behavior | Version 1 | Version 2 |
| Consented | Single all-or-nothing consent — users either allow or block all tracking. | Separate consent options for Analytics and Advertising, allowing granular control. |
| Non-Consented | Tracking disabled (no cookies set) | Operates in no-consent cookieless mode with limited tracking. No first- or third-party cookies. |
Steps to enable Microsoft Clarity Consent Mode v2 in CMP
- Go to your Clarity project settings and disable the automatic cookie settings. To Disable cookies, go to Clarity > Settings > Setup > Advanced settings. Then, turn off Cookies.
- In your WordPress settings, click on Cookie Consent > Microsoft consent mode tab, then enable Microsoft Clarity Consent Mode.
- Test your implementation using the browser developer tools. Verify whether the above-mentioned cookies are set after consent is obtained. Values will not be associated with the cookie until consent is given.
