Which regulatory agencies enforce this type of clause?

{'agency': 'FTC', 'reason': 'The FTC has jurisdiction to investigate cookie practices that may constitute unfair or deceptive acts under FTC Act Section 5, particularly where cookie consent mechanisms do not reflect actual user choice.', 'complaint_url': 'https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/'}

What is the severity of this clause?

ConductAtlas classifies this Mandatory Cookie Acceptance clause as high severity. Severity reflects the magnitude of rights affected, the breadth of users impacted, and the degree of discretion the platform retains.

Mandatory Cookie Acceptance — Hugging Face

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What it is

Hugging Face requires you to accept cookies to use the platform at all — disabling cookies means you are locked out of the service entirely, with no option to use it with reduced functionality.

Consumer impact (what this means for users)

You cannot use Hugging Face without accepting cookies that collect your session data, IP address, login information, and preferences — there is no opt-out or reduced-functionality alternative offered.

Cross-platform context

See how other platforms handle Mandatory Cookie Acceptance and similar clauses.

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Why it matters (compliance & risk perspective)

This all-or-nothing cookie requirement removes user choice over data collection via cookies, which likely conflicts with GDPR and ePrivacy Directive consent requirements that demand freely given, granular consent.

View original clause language

We use cookies only for the purposes of delivering, updating, monitoring, improving the Services, and maintaining security on our Services by detecting, preventing and responding to any type of threats or incidents. We may collect Information through those cookies. If you do not wish to accept these cookies and you decide to disable them, you will not be able to access and use the Services.

Institutional analysis (Compliance & legal intelligence)

(1) REGULATORY FRAMEWORK: This provision implicates the EU ePrivacy Directive (2002/58/EC as amended by 2009/136/EC), specifically Art. 5(3) requiring prior informed consent for non-essential cookies; GDPR Art. 7 (conditions for consent — freely given, specific, informed, unambiguous); GDPR Recital 42 (consent not freely given if conditioned on service access); and national ePrivacy laws implementing the Directive (e.g., UK PECR, French Cookie Guidelines from CNIL). The CNIL, ICO, and other EU DPAs have primary enforcement authority. (2)

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Applicable agencies

FTC

The FTC has jurisdiction to investigate cookie practices that may constitute unfair or deceptive acts under FTC Act Section 5, particularly where cookie consent mechanisms do not reflect actual user choice.
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Provision details

Document information

Document

Hugging Face Privacy Policy

Entity

Hugging Face

Document last updated

April 29, 2026

Tracking information

First tracked

April 28, 2026

Last verified

April 28, 2026

Record ID

CA-P-003740

Document ID

CA-D-00332

Evidence Provenance

Source URL

https://huggingface.co/privacy

Wayback Machine

View archived versions →

SHA-256

497c505a01512cafb742e94806b72cf15ec677bfabc6cb905f6ed30aa2fb9b85

Verified

✓ Snapshot stored ✓ Change verified

How to Cite

ConductAtlas Policy Archive
Entity: Hugging Face | Document: Hugging Face Privacy Policy | Record: CA-P-003740
Captured: 2026-04-28 05:39:29 UTC | SHA-256: 497c505a01512caf…
URL: https://conductatlas.com/platform/hugging-face/hugging-face-privacy-policy/mandatory-cookie-acceptance/
Accessed: May 2, 2026

Classification

Severity

High

Mandatory Cookie Acceptance