Helsingin Sanomat will charge readers who reject digital cookies

From October, Helsingin Sanomat will ask readers who reject digital cookies entirely to pay about five euros a month. In return, digital advertising will disappear from the newspaper almost completely, apart from the digital replicas of its print editions.

The change will apply to all digital readers, whether or not they already have a subscription. Readers who accept cookies will notice no change. Helsingin Sanomat says around 90% of its audience already allows cookies used for advertising targeting and analytics, and that it will not collect new data as part of the move.

Editor in chief Erja Yläjärvi presents the decision as a defense of domestic media in a sharply changing advertising market. Advertising has supported Helsingin Sanomat throughout its history and remains an important source of funding, even though most of the newspaper’s revenue comes from subscriptions. Without advertising income, she writes, subscription prices would also be higher.

The newspaper argues that targeted advertising is a basic requirement for advertisers in the digital environment. Readers who refuse cookies cannot be targeted in the same way, which makes the advertising less attractive and reduces the newspaper’s revenue. Yläjärvi says global companies such as Google, Meta and TikTok have aggressively drawn Finnish advertising money abroad, making conditions harder for local commercial media.

Helsingin Sanomat also says it will explain what data it collects and how it uses it, in line with EU law and Finnish regulatory requirements. Sanoma says it handles reader data securely and according to privacy rules regardless of whether readers accept cookies. Yläjärvi adds that journalists work independently from advertising sales and can criticize advertisers in the newspaper’s coverage.

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Our goal is to remain a high-quality domestic advertising option in a world dominated by Google, Meta and TikTok.