This page supplements our Privacy Policy to provide additional information about the purposes for which we process personal information and our legal bases for doing so.
Data Processing Summary
Some jurisdictions require that we state our legal basis for processing data for particular purposes. The table below contains a list of the purposes for which we process personal information. For data from the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, and other jurisdictions requiring a legal basis for processing, the table below contains the primary legal bases we rely on for such processing.
| Purpose |
Purpose Description |
Categories of Personal Information
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Legal Basis(es) for Processing |
Explanation where relying on legitimate interest |
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Operate, Deliver & Maintain
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Operate, Deliver & Maintain Snap Services | Snap processes personal information to operate, deliver, and maintain Snapchat and our Services. |
Personal Information provided by Snapchatters
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Snap and its users have a legitimate interest in Snap operating, delivering, and maintaining its Services. We can rely on this legal basis because (1) we inform users of this purpose in our Privacy Policy and support pages, (2) we use the least intrusive means, and (3) we have appropriately balanced this purpose with Snapchatters’ rights and interests and ensured the processing is within the reasonable expectation of Snapchatters (including our teenage users). |
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Personal Information obtained from third parties
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Personalization - Content |
Snapchat Services are personalized and Snap processes personal information of Snapchatters to provide these personalized Services, including to: Add context to Snapchatter experiences, for example by tagging Snapchatter Memories with searchable labels based on Snapchatter location (if setting is turned on) and the content of Snapchatter photo or video (for example, if there's a dog in Snapchatter photo, it may be searchable in Memories by the term "dog"). Suggesting friends, recommendations in Snap Map, generating Snaps and other content using AI to share with friends, inferring Snapchatter interests based on Snapchatter content or activity, or customizing the content we show Snapchatters, including ads. |
Personal Information provided by Snapchatters
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Snap, its users and content partners have a legitimate interest in Snap personalizing its Services, including the content shown to users on its platform.Users would not be able to access content that interests them, new content partners would not be able to find an interested audience and Snap would not be able to keep the platform safe and enjoyable for everyone without this personalization.
We can rely on this legal basis because (1) we inform users of this purpose in our Privacy Center, Privacy Policy, and Snapchat Support pages, (2) we use the least intrusive means, and (3) we have appropriately balanced this purpose with Snapchatters’ rights and interests and ensured the processing is within the reasonable expectation of Snapchatters (including our teenage users). |
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Personal Information generated by Snap
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Personal Information obtained from third parties
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Personalization & Measurement - Ads |
Another way we provide a personalized Service is through the ads we show. This includes ad personalization, targeting and measurement both on and off our Services. |
Personal Information provided by Snapchatters
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Snap, its users and advertisers have a legitimate interest in personalizing and measuring the effectiveness of advertising. When Snaps displays ads, Snap uses information to improve the quality of the ads. This allows Snap to provide a better experience more in line with a user’s interests and is necessary to provide more valuable advertising offerings that generate revenue to support and improve Snap’s Services. Without ad personalization, Snap’s advertising would be less compelling to users who saw it and far less valuable to advertisers. Ad measurement is essential to give advertisers a means of better understanding the performance of the advertising they purchase through Snap. Advertising measurement is a critical component of Snap’s business because it enables advertisers to make informed decisions about what kinds of advertisements they should run, when, what kinds of content to include, and the audiences they should try to reach. Without ad measurement, Snap’s advertising would be less compelling to those who saw it and far less valuable to advertisers. We can rely on this legal basis because (1) we inform users of this purpose in our Privacy Center, Privacy Policy, and support pages, (2) we use the least intrusive means, and (3) we have appropriately balanced this purpose with Snapchatters’ rights and interests and ensured the processing is within the reasonable expectation of Snapchatters (including our teenage users). |
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Personal Information generated by Snap
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Personal Information obtained from third parties
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| Development |
Develop and improve our features and Services, including algorithms and machine learning models, including for personalization, advertising, augmented reality, safety and security, fairness and inclusivity, and to prevent abuse or other Terms of Services violations |
Personal Information provided by Snapchatters
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Snap, its users, its content partners and advertisers have a legitimate interest in Snap developing and improving its features, including through the use of algorithms and machine learning models for personalization and advertising. Snap also has a legitimate interest in developing and improving algorithms and machine learning models safety and security, fairness and inclusivity, augmented reality and to prevent abuse or other Terms of Service violations. We can rely on this legal basis because (1) we inform users of this purpose in our Privacy Center, Privacy Policy, and support pages, (2) we use the least intrusive means, and (3) we have appropriately balanced this purpose with Snapchatters’ rights and interests and ensured the processing is within the reasonable expectation of all Snapchatters (including our teenage users). |
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Personal Information generated by Snap
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Personal Information obtained from third parties
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Analytics |
Identify, monitor, and analyze trends, usage, and demand. Includes the production of aggregated, non-personally identifiable or de-identified information. |
Personal Information provided by Snapchatters
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Snap, its content partners, advertisers and regulators have a legitimate interest in understanding how Snap’s Services are working to inform their business decisions. In most cases, this purpose can be achieved using aggregated, anonymised or pseudo-anonymised data produced through automated means (i.e., without humans seeing the underlying personal information) and the content of private communications are not processed. We can rely on this legal basis because (1) we inform users of this purpose in our Privacy Policy and support pages, (2) we use the least intrusive means and (3) through the use of primarily anonymised or pseudonymised data we have appropriately balanced this purpose with Snapchatters’ rights and interests and ensured the processing is within the reasonable expectation of Snapchatters (including our teenage users). |
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Personal Information generated by Snap
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Personal Information obtained from third parties
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Research |
Conduct research to better understand Snapchatter and general consumer interests and trends, including the ways our Services are used. |
Personal Information provided by Snapchatters
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Snap has a legitimate interest in understanding how users and consumers are interacting with Snapchat or similar products to inform its business decisions and share findings with content partners, advertisers and regulators. We can rely on this legal basis because (1) we inform users of this purpose in our Privacy Policy and support pages, (2) we use the least intrusive means and (3) we have appropriately balanced this purpose with Snapchatters’ rights and interests and ensured the processing is within the reasonable expectation of Snapchatters (including our teenage users). |
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Personal Information generated by Snap
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Personal Information obtained from third parties
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| Security |
Snap processes personal information to protect Snapchat. This includes things such as, enhancing the safety and security of our Services, verifying Snapchatter identity, and preventing fraud or other unauthorized or illegal activity. |
Personal Information provided by Snapchatters
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Snap has a legitimate interest in enhancing the safety and security of our Services and preventing fraud or other unauthorized or illegal activity. We can rely on this legal basis because (1) we inform users of this purpose in our Privacy Center, Privacy Policy, and support pages, (2) we use the least intrusive means; and (3) we have appropriately balanced this purpose with Snapchatters’ rights and interests. |
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Personal Information generated by Snap
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Personal Information obtained from third parties
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Marketing & Promotion |
Marketing & Promotion - New/Existing Features or Brand |
Snap processes personal information to promote new or existing features of Snapchat, or the Services more generally. This includes sending Snapchatters communications through Snapchat, email, SMS or other messaging platforms, where permitted. For example, we may use the Snapchat app, email, SMS or other messaging platforms to share information about our Services and promotional offers that we think may interest Snapchatters. |
Personal Information provided by Snapchatters
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Snap has a legitimate interest in marketing and promotion of its Services. This allows Snap to provide information that users may find valuable or useful. Without these notifications, users would have a harder time learning about new or improved features or content. In most cases some form of consent is required for direct communication under anti-spam laws. Where we can rely on the legitimate interest legal basis, we are able to do because (1) we inform users of this purpose in our Privacy Policy and support pages, (2) we use the least intrusive means, (3) all marketing or promotional communications provide a mechanism for individuals to opt out of future similar communications; and (4) we have appropriately balanced this purpose with Snapchatters’ rights and interests and ensured the processing is within the reasonable expectation of Snapchatters (including our teenage users). |
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Personal Information generated by Snap
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Personal Information obtained from third parties
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Non-Marketing/Promotion |
Non-marketing communications about account information, reminder alerts, or off-platform contacts directed by users |
Snap processes personal information to communicate with users about transactional, non-promotional events. This may include sending communications through Snapchat, email, SMS or other messaging platforms, where permitted, to deliver account status updates, security alerts, and chat or friending reminders; it may also include fulfilling our user’s request to send invites or Snapchat content to non-Snapchatters. |
Personal Information provided by Snapchatters
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Snap and its users have a legitimate interest in Snap providing relevant communications to users Without these notifications, users may miss out on important updates or conversations with others on Snapchat. We can rely on this legal basis because (1) we inform users of this purpose in our Privacy Policy and support pages, (2) we use the least intrusive means; and (3) we have appropriately balanced this purpose with Snapchatters’ rights and interests and ensured the processing is within the reasonable expectation of Snapchatters (including our teenage users). |
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Personal Information generated by Snap
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Personal Information obtained from third parties
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Support |
Providing support to Snapchatters, our community, and business partners. |
Personal Information provided by Snapchatters
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Snap and its users have a legitimate interest in providing support to Snapchatters, our community, and business partners. We can rely on this legal basis because (1) we inform users of this purpose in our Privacy Policy, (2) we use the least intrusive means; and (3) we have appropriately balanced this purpose with Snapchatters’ rights and interests. |
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Personal Information generated by Snap
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Personal Information obtained from third parties
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Enforcement |
Snap processes personal information to enforce its terms and the law. This includes enforcing, investigating, and reporting conduct violating our Terms of Service and other usage policies, responding to requests from law enforcement and complying with legal requirements. |
Personal Information provided by Snapchatters
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Snap, its users, content partners and advertisers have a legitimate interest in Snap enforcing its Terms of Service and related policies and responding to and complying with requests from law enforcement. Snap has a legitimate interest in maintaining the safety of Snapchatters and its platform and this is one of the ways it does so. We can rely on this legal basis because (1) we inform users of this purpose in our Privacy Policy and support pages, (2) we use the least intrusive means; and (3) we have appropriately balanced this purpose with Snapchatters’ rights and interests. |
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Personal Information generated by Snap
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Personal Information obtained from third parties
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How to Object to Processing
If you’re based in the EEA, UK, Switzerland, or other jurisdictions with a similar right, you have the right to object to our use of your information depending on the basis under which we process it. With many types of data, we’ve provided you with the ability to simply delete it if you don’t want us processing it anymore. For other types of data, we’ve given you the ability to stop the use of your data by disabling the feature altogether. You can do these things in the app. Check out Snapchat Support for more information.
You can learn more about objecting and other frequently asked privacy questions here. If there are other types of information you don’t agree with us processing, you can contact us by completing this form.
Note: Be sure you include in the description any information that you think will help us review your request, including the data and processing activity you are objecting to, how the processing activity affects you, and why you want to object. Please be as specific as possible.
What happens when I object to processing?
We’ll review your objection request carefully and follow-up with the outcome. In order to help us review your request, please include as much information as you can.
Our review will take into account your expectations about our use of your data, the risks and benefits of the data use to those involved (which may include us, you, our community and other Snapchatters, or other third parties), and whether there are readily available, less privacy-intrusive ways of achieving the same purpose.
What happens if my objection is successful?
If your objection is successful, we will stop processing your information pursuant to your objection. We will explain this in our follow-up communication stating the outcome.
What happens if my objection isn’t successful?
If your objection is unsuccessful, we will let you know why. Potential reasons may be:
- We don’t have enough information to understand your objection, you’re not objecting to a specific processing activity, or you have not provided specific grounds for the objection.
- The balancing of your interests or fundamental rights or freedoms, against our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) weighs in favor of declining your objection.
- We are not relying on legitimate interest or public interest as a legal basis for the processing activity you are objecting to.
If we deny your objection, you may choose to file a complaint with the Dutch Data Protection Authority or your local data protection supervisory authority.