Analytics is the general name for measuring what people do on a page. For an artist it is a handful of counts; for a large platform it is a profile of a person across sites. The word covers both, which is why the second keeps being defended with the arguments for the first.
Two kinds, one word
- Counts kept by the site itself: how often a page was opened, what was opened from it. No identity needed.
- Measurement that follows a person: an identifier that travels between sites and builds a profile.
Only the first is needed to answer whether a page works.
The switch
Under European rules, a reader is entitled to say no. That answer has to be as easy as saying yes, has to hold for more than one page, and has to be findable again later by somebody who changed their mind. A switch that is hidden after the first visit is not a choice.
What turning it off should cost
Nothing. The page reads the same, everything on it still works, and the only difference is that the visit was not counted. Anything that degrades for a reader who said no is a penalty for exercising a right.
A player from another company is a separate question. Not objecting to a count is not a yes to that company, so on TAP a player waits for a press until the reader says yes to players.