We’ve all seen it. That pop-up box that jumps in front of you before you can read the article, apply for the job, or check the score. It talks about cookies and data collection in a calm, professional tone, as if it’s just housekeeping. Harmless, right? Wrong.
These notices are not designed for your benefit. They are designed to wear you down.
The trick is subtle. Instead of giving you a straight choice — yes or no — you get led into “preferences” or “confirming” settings. Buried inside are endless vendor lists and switches that most people won’t bother with. And that’s the point. The whole system relies on you being impatient, tired, or distracted enough to just click through. That is not informed consent. It’s manipulation.
What happens after you give in? A tiny file sits on your device, sometimes for a year. During that time, your clicks, searches, and habits are tracked and fed into profiles. These profiles don’t just guess you like trainers or flights to Dubai. They map out who you are — your interests, your weak spots, your moods, your politics.
And here’s the danger: once the data exists, it doesn’t stay in one place. It’s shared, sold, and stitched together. One day it’s used to push adverts. Another day it’s used to target you with political propaganda, dodgy loan offers, or “personalised” content designed to pull your strings. That’s the real risk — your data shaping what you see, what you believe, and how you behave.
The worst part? We’re being conditioned to accept it. Each time you click through, you lower your guard a little more. At first you notice. Then you shrug. Finally, you stop resisting. Surveillance becomes normal. That’s the psychological trap.
For Nigerians, the stakes are even higher. The country is young, mobile-driven, and rapidly online. The new Data Protection Act gives rights on paper, but enforcement is still catching up. Meanwhile, global platforms bring in design tricks perfected elsewhere, leaving Nigerian users exposed to the same manipulations as London or New York — but with fewer protections when things go wrong.
This isn’t just a Nigerian issue. Everywhere, the digital economy is tilted against the individual. “You control your data” is the line they sell us, but the truth is you’re pushed, prodded, and cornered into giving it away. And once it’s gone, it rarely comes back.
Think about it this way. Would you allow a stranger to follow you for 365 days, writing down every shop you entered, every conversation you had, every book you picked up? Would you let them sleep outside your home, taking notes on who comes and goes? That’s exactly what cookies and trackers do online. Yet because it happens silently, in the background, we shrug it off.
It’s time to stop shrugging.
First, be aware. Don’t trust the design. If the notice makes it harder to refuse than to accept, understand you’re being nudged. Take the extra minute to reject what you don’t want.
Second, demand better. Refusing cookies should be as easy as accepting them. Regulators and consumer groups must stop treating these tricks as minor irritations and start calling them what they are: exploitation.
Finally, remember what’s at stake. Privacy is not a luxury. It is the right to live without constant tracking, profiling, and nudging. It is the right to dignity. Every time you surrender it casually, you trade away a little of your freedom.
The warning is simple. Don’t let manipulation become the norm. Guard your data as you would your money, your health, or your home. Because once you stop caring, once you stop noticing, the battle is already lost.
Michael Irene, CIPM, CIPP(E) certification, is a data and information governance practitioner based in London, United Kingdom. He is also a Fellow of Higher Education Academy, UK, and can be reached via moshoke@yahoo.com; twitter: @moshoke
