What is the VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA cookie?
Stores the user's privacy and consent settings associated with embedded YouTube videos.
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About VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA
| Vendor | |
|---|---|
| Cookie Domain | youtube.com |
| Category Category The functional category of the technology, such as Web Analytics or Social Media. Learn more | Advertising & Paid Media |
| Consent Category Consent Category The consent category this cookie most commonly falls under across sites we scan, normalized into four standard categories. Learn more | Strictly Necessary |
| Prevalence | Very Common |
| Popularity Popularity Popularity is calculated from our dataset of 4.5B+ cookies analyzed across hundreds of millions of web pages. Learn more | Found on 28.3% of scanned pages |
| Expiration Type | Timestamp |
| Expiration Duration | 27 days |
| Party Type Party Type Whether the cookie is first-party or third-party. Learn more | 3rd-Party |
| Risk Level Risk Level Rates how sensitive the data stored by this cookie is (High, Medium, or Low) based on data classification and distribution. Learn more | Low |
| Vendor Privacy Policy | https://policies.google.com/privacy |
| Vendor Website | https://www.google.com |
What is the purpose of VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA?
The VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA cookie is a third-party persistent cookie set by Google in connection with websites that embed YouTube videos (the YouTube player and iframe API). Its primary function is to record the visitor's privacy/consent state and related metadata (such as region) so that YouTube can apply the appropriate privacy behavior for embedded media on subsequent page loads.
The cookie typically holds a short base64-encoded string representing the user's region and a consent/privacy configuration value rather than a rich behavioral profile. It is set as a third-party cookie on the youtube.com domain and is widely classified by consent management platforms under marketing/targeting categories because it forms part of YouTube's embed and tracking infrastructure.
What are the Privacy Risks of VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA?
Risk Level: Low
This cookie is categorized as Low risk because its primary purpose is to store user privacy choices and consent states rather than uniquely identifying the user for cross-site behavioral tracking. It acts as an operational necessity to ensure the user's opt-out preferences for other tracking cookies are respected on embedded content. The cookie does not capture identifying behavioral data on its own. Note that it is set as a third-party cookie by Google within an advertising-capable ecosystem, so some privacy databases classify it under marketing; administrators who take a conservative stance may treat it as Medium risk.
How to Remove VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA from a Website
To remove this cookie, the website administrator must remove the embedded YouTube video iframe or YouTube API integration from the website's source code. Because this cookie is placed inherently by the YouTube player to track privacy preferences, it cannot be completely disabled via configuration if the standard video player is used. Alternatively, site administrators can use YouTube's Privacy-Enhanced Mode by updating embed URLs to use the www.youtube-nocookie.com domain instead of the standard domain. This changes how tracking cookies are set, though certain metadata cookies may still be deployed depending on user interaction.