What is the default consent state in Google Tag Manager?

The default consent state is the initial permission setting applied before a visitor’s choice is processed. Google Tag Manager does not automatically set every consent type to denied; your consent management platform or implementation must define the defaults.

Where prior permission is required for analytics and advertising, these commonly start as:

• analytics_storage: denied

• ad_storage: denied

• ad_user_data: denied

• ad_personalization: denied

Consent defaults can also be configured differently for specific regions when your implementation requires region-specific consent behavior.

Your consent setup then updates the relevant values to granted when permission is given, or keeps them denied when refused. Returning visitors’ saved choices should also be reapplied.

Configure defaults through Consent Initialization before other GTM tags run, following Google’s default consent setup guidance. The “Not set” option under Additional Consent Checks is a separate tag setting; it does not mean consent is denied.

Meta description:
Understand default consent states in Google Tag Manager, when to use denied or granted, and how your CMP updates permissions after visitors make a choice.