Snap and Ads

Snapchat Ads Privacy & Transparency

As part of our commitment to privacy, we believe you have the right to understand how ads work on Snapchat, what information we collect and use to show you ads, and the settings we provide to control which ads you see.

The purpose of this page is to provide transparency about how we collect, use and share your data with respect to ads. You can find more information about our privacy practices regarding your data in our Privacy Center.

We want to show you relevant, fun, and interesting ads

We think ads are best when they’re relevant, fun, and interesting—advertisers prefer them and we think you’ll like them more too. If you’re on your way to becoming the next top chef, ads about cookware and recipes may enhance your time on Snapchat; ads about trampolines, maybe not so much (unless you like jumping!).

You are unique, and that means the ads that you will see are often driven by what we think are your interests, your activity on our platform, and information that our partners and advertisers provide to us about you. We’ll explain below more about the information we collect and receive about you to determine which ads to show you below.

We also hold our advertisers to certain standards. We expect them to be honest about their products, services, and content, to be kind to our diverse community, and to not compromise your privacy. We may also reject ads that do not meet our Advertising Policies, including where an ad is misleading, or fails to meet our community guidelines. If you spot a misleading ad, you can report it in-app using the learn more icon on the ad.

The information Snap collects and receives about you to provide you ads

To make our ads relevant, we use information we learn about you and that our advertisers and partners provide to us to try and show you the right ads at the right time. The types of information we collect, including examples of how that would impact the ads you see, are:

Information we receive directly from you

• Account registration info. When you sign up for Snapchat, we collect certain information about you.
  • Age. You provide us with your birthday, which we use to determine your age (and depending on your settings, this also leads to other fun experiences, like allowing your friends to wish you happy birthday!). As described further below, we also attempt to infer your age, which, among other things, serves as an additional way to increase the likelihood ads reach the correct and appropriate audience.
  • Country/Language. We collect your country of residence and the language you prefer for a number of reasons, including to allow Snapchat to provide you localized content and services, to provide you with ads that are relevant to your locale and language, and to ensure ads we show you comply with local laws and regulations. We may also use your location (as described below) for these purposes.

Your activity on Snapchat

When you view or engage with the Camera, Stories, the Snap Map, Spotlight Snaps, Lenses, My AI (see below for more details on My AI and ads), and other content and features on Snapchat, we learn (and sometimes guess) what you might be interested in. For example, if you watch or create a lot of Spotlight Snaps about basketball, we may show you an advertisement for professional basketball tickets.

We also make other inferences about you based on your activity on Snapchat, which may be informed by the information we collect from other sources, as described below. Inferences include:

• Age. For example, while you enter your birthday when you sign up, we also infer your age based on your activity on Snapchat–this inference helps us keep our younger Snapchatters safe and enhances the accuracy of our age data. Advertisers might want to market certain products to certain age groups that may be more receptive to a particular ad or avoid groups for which an ad is not relevant or appropriate. For example, if you are under 21 in the U.S. we won’t show you ads for alcohol.
• Gender. We also infer your gender based on a number of signals, including your Bitmoji, username and display name, friend demographics, and your activity on Snapchat. Similar to determining your interests, your inferred gender assists our advertisers in showing you ads that may be relevant to you. For example, an advertiser may want to show ads to Snapchatters with a particular gender and we use inferred gender to assist.
• Interests. We are always trying to make our ads as relevant to you as possible, so we try to make inferences about your interests. For example, if you follow race car drivers and like watching or creating Stories about new cars or racing, then we might guess that you’re an “Automotive Enthusiast.” Some of these guesses we call “Lifestyle Categories,” and you can review the Lifestyle Categories that we’ve guessed about you in Snapchat, and you can change or clear those Lifestyle Categories at any time. We also make other inferences about your interests that assist us in showing you content that you may be interested in, and these inferences may also inform the ads that you see.
• Your friends. Many friends have similar interests. So, we may use information about your friends’ interactions with ads or content to determine whether to show those ads to you. For example, if your friends clicked on an ad for a new pair of shoes, we may use that to prioritize showing the same ad to you.

We also use information about what ads you interacted with previously to determine what ads to show you (or not show you) next. It’s no secret that no one likes seeing the same advertisement over and over again!

Information we receive from our advertisers and partners

• Your activity on the websites and platforms of our advertisers and partners. Our advertisers and partners provide us data from their own apps, websites, and platforms, which we use to help inform the ads we show. For example, if you search for a movie on a website that shares data with Snap, you may see ads for similar movies.
  • We obtain this information in a few different ways, including through the Snap Pixel and Snap’s Conversion API. In both instances, a small bit of code is embedded in third-party platforms (think websites and apps) that collects information about limited activities on those platforms. We also use this information to provide advertisers reports about the effectiveness of their ads.
  • If you are located in the EEA and are under 16 or are located in the UK and are under 18, we do not use information collected by Snap from your activity on the websites and platforms of our advertisers and partners (i.e., “Activity-Based Ads”) to determine which ads to show you.
• Audiences. Our advertisers may also upload to Snap a list of their customers, so they can target ads to those customers (or individuals like their customers on Snapchat). Typically, this matching is based on a hashed version of your phone number or email. For example, let’s say you’re an avid consumer of comic books. If a new comic book is coming out, the publisher may share their fan list to Snap to help make sure that you’ll see an ad about their latest release.
  • If you are located in the EEA and are under 16 or are located in the UK and are under 18, we do not include you in custom audiences.
• Other data we receive from our advertisers and partners. We may also use other data we receive about you from our advertisers and partners to inform which ads we show, as described in our Privacy Policy.

Information we collect about your context, device and location

• Device information. When you use our products and services, we collect information about your device, which helps us understand the operating system, screen size, language selection, apps installed, and other attributes. This in turn allows us to show you ads that are compatible with your device, in the language you prefer, targeted to specific operating systems, and aligned with your interests. For example, if you are using an iPhone, we may show you an ad for an app that is only available on iOS. Similarly, you won’t see ads in Mandarin if your device’s language is set to Farsi.
• Location information. We think it’s important to show you ads that are relevant to your location. For example, if you are in Germany, it wouldn’t be fun or make sense for an advertiser to show you ads for movies that are only playing in the United States. We determine your approximate location based on a few pieces of data you provide us when you access our products and services, including your IP address, and, if you grant us permission to collect it, your precise location based on GPS. We may also use places that you are near or frequent to show you ads that are relevant to you. For example, if you are near a coffee shop, an advertiser may want to show you ads for their coffee.
  • If you are in California, you may request that Snap limit the use of your personal information, including the use of your precise location history to show you ads.

Keep in mind that Snap may use data from multiple sources described above to show you ads. For example, an advertiser may want to show ads to a certain population of Snapchat users, like 35-44 year olds interested in gardening. In that case, we might use your age and your activity on Snapchat or on other platforms to show ads to you if you fit in that audience.

Controlling the ads you see

We believe you should have meaningful control over the ads you see. To change the ads you see, please use the settings described here to:

• Opt-out of Activity-Based Ads. If you do not want Snap to show you ads based on your activity on the websites and platforms of our advertisers and partners, you can opt-out.
• Opt-out of Audience-Based Ads. Use this opt-out if you do not want Snap to target you with ads based on audience lists we receive from advertisers and other partners.
• Opt-out of third party ad networks. Use this opt-out if you do not want third-party ad networks to serve you ads.
• Opt-out of tracking (iOS users only). If you set the privacy controls on your device running iOS 14.5 or later to not allow Snapchat to track you, we will not link your activity on third-party apps and websites collected while using that device with user or device data from Snapchat for targeted advertising or advertising measurement purposes, except on your device. However, we may link this information for advertising purposes in ways that we do not specifically identify you.
• Change the ad topics you see. This setting allows you to decide whether you want to see certain types of ads about sensitive topics, like political, alcohol, or gambling ads. Some of these ads are turned off by default for users under a specific age.
• Make changes to Lifestyle Categories. This setting allows you to change the lifestyle category inferences Snap has made about you based on your interests and activity on Snapchat.

If you are in the EEA/UK, in addition to the controls above, you also have the right to object to our processing of your personal data, including for personalized advertising. You can object by following the instructions here.

Ads in My AI

Ads that are displayed in My AI work a bit differently from other ads on Snapchat: they are determined by the context of your My AI conversation and whether, for example, you are looking for recommendations for products or services. We also use additional context, including your age and general location (city/region), to help provide appropriate and relevant ads for you. For example, if you ask My AI “who makes the best electric guitar?” you might see a “sponsored” ad section for a guitar maker or music store near you below My AI’s response. All of this may sound familiar, as My AI ads work a lot like search ads on other platforms.