Privacy Policy
Let’s talk about your privacy
This Privacy Policy describes the policies and procedures of Squarespace Inc. (“Squarespace”, “we”, “our” or “us”) on the collection, use, and disclosure of your information on www.squarespace.com (the “Site”) and the services, features, content or applications we offer (together with the Site, the “Services”).
We receive information about you from various sources, including (i) if you register for the Site and the Services, through your user account on the Services (your “Account”); (ii) your use of the Services generally; and (iii) from various third party websites and other services. All defined terms not defined herein shall have the meaning ascribed to them in the Terms of Service, available at www.squarespace.com/terms
What does our policy cover?
This Privacy Policy covers Squarespace’s processing of Personal Data that Squarespace gathers when you are accessing and using the Services. As used in this Privacy Policy, “Personal Data” means any information that can be used to individually identify a person, and “processing” generally covers actions that can be performed in connection with data such as collection, use, storage, and disclosure.
This Privacy Policy also covers Squarespace reatment of any Personal Data that Squarespace business partners share with Squarespace or Squarespace shares with its business partners. This Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of third parties, and their sites, services or applications that Squarespace does not own or control, or to individuals that Squarespace does not employ or manage (“Third Parties”). While we attempt to provide access only to those Third Parties that share our respect for your privacy, we cannot take responsibility for the content, actions or privacy policies of those Third Parties. We encourage you to carefully review the privacy policies of any Third Parties you access.
If you are a resident of the European Union, United Kingdom, Lichtenstein, Norway, or Iceland, you may have additional rights under European Union Regulation (EU) No. 2016/679 of 27 April 2016, also known as the General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR (the “GDPR”) with respect to your Personal Data, as outlined below. Squarespace may be the controller of your Personal Data processed in connection with the Services for purposes of the GDPR. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or whether any of the following applies to you, please contact Squarespace.
Note that we may also process Personal Data of our users’ own customers, end users, or employees in connection with our provision of services to customers, in which case we are the processor of Personal Data for purposes of the GDPR. If we are the processor of your Personal Data (i.e., not the controller) for purposes of the GDPR, please contact the controller of your Personal Data (i.e., the user or individual providing the course, product, or other offering in connection with which you provided your Personal Data) in the first instance to address your rights with respect to such data.
What Personal Data does Squarespace Collect From You?
We collect Personal Data about you when you provide such information directly to us, when third parties such as our business partners or service providers provide us with Personal Data about you, or when Personal Data about you is automatically collected in connection with your use of our Services.
Information we collect directly from you: We receive Personal Data directly from you when you provide us with such Personal Data, including without limitation the following:
First and last name
Email address
Billing zip code and/or country of residence
By providing Personal Data of others to Squarespace, you represent that you have the authority to do so. All information that you enter or upload about your non-users will be covered by Squarespace Terms of Service, accessible at https://www.squarespace.com/terms-of-service/ this Privacy Policy, and where applicable, the EU Data Processing Addendum, available at https://www.squarespace.com/privacy. We disclaim responsibility for the information of others that you provide to us in the course of your use of the Services.
In order to collect payments on your behalf from your customers, and provide payments to you, we, using Stripe as a third-party payment processor, collect payment information from you, your attendees and customers, your vendors, and other parties to whom we provide payments on your behalf and from whom we collect payments on your behalf. This information is used solely to collect and provide payments related to the Services, and is only stored by Stripe. You should review the terms of service and privacy policies of Stripe, available at https://stripe.com/us/legal& https://stripe.com/us/privacy.
Information we receive from third party sources: We have built services from some third parties into the Site, and those third parties provide us with Personal Data about you, such as the following:
Account information for third party services: If you interact with a third party service when using our Services, such as if you use a third party service to log-in to our Services (for example, signing up for an account with Facebook Connect), or if you share content from our Services through a third party social media service, the third party service will send us information about you, such as information from your public profile, if the third party service and your account settings allow such sharing. The information we receive will depend on the policies and your account settings with the third party service.
Information from our advertising partners: We receive information about you from some of our service providers who assist us with marketing or promotional services related to how you interact with our Site and Services.
Information from our service providers: We receive information collected by third parties about your use of the Services. For example, we may use analytics service providers to analyze how you interact and engage with the Services and our advertisements, so we can learn and make enhancements to offer you a better experience. Some of these entities may use cookies, web beacons and other technologies to collect information about your use of the Services and other websites, which may include tracking activity across time and unaffiliated properties, including your IP address, web browser, pages viewed, time spent on pages, links clicked and conversion information. Third parties may also help us provide you with customer support, and provide us with information so that we may help you use our Services.
Information we automatically collect when you use our Services: Some Personal Data is automatically collected when you use our Services, such as the following:
IP address
Device identifiers
Web browser information
Page view statistics
Browsing history
Usage information and click tracking
Transaction information (e.g. transaction amount, date and time such transaction occurred)
Cookies and other tracking technologies (see below for more information)
Log data (e.g. access times, hardware and software information)
Additional Information about Cookies:
The Services use cookies and similar technologies such as pixel tags, web beacons, clear GIFs, and JavaScript (collectively, “Cookies”) to enable our servers to recognize your web browser and tell us how and when you visit and use our Site and Services, to analyze trends, learn about our user base and operate and improve our Services. Cookies are small files – usually consisting of letters and numbers – placed on your computer, tablet, phone, or similar device when you use that device to visit our Site. We sometimes combine information collected through Cookies that is not Personal Data with Personal Data that we have about you, for example, to tell us who you are or whether you have an account with us. We may also supplement the information we collect from you with information received from third parties.
Cookies can either be “session Cookies” or “persistent Cookies”. Session Cookies are temporary Cookies that are stored on your device while you are visiting our Site or using our Services, whereas “persistent Cookies” are stored on your device for a period of time after you leave our Site or Services. The length of time a persistent Cookie stays on your device varies from Cookie to Cookie. We use persistent Cookies to store your preferences so that they are available for the next visit, and to keep a more accurate account of how often you visit our Services, how often you return, how your use of the Services may vary over time. We also use persistent Cookies to measure the effectiveness of advertising efforts. Through these Cookies, we may collect information about your online activity after you leave our Services. Your browser may offer you a “Do Not Track” or “DNT” option, which allows you to signal to operators of websites, and web applications, and services that you do not wish such operators to track certain of your online activities over time and across different websites. Because we collect browsing and persistent identifier data, the Services do not support Do Not Track requests at this time, which means that we may collect information about your online activity both while you are using the Services and after you leave our properties.
Some Cookies are placed by a third party on your device and may provide information to us and third parties about your browsing habits (such as your visits to our Site or Services, the pages you have visited and the links and advertisements you have clicked). These Cookies can be used to determine whether certain third party services are being used, to identify your interests, to retarget advertisements to you and to serve advertisements to you that we or others believe are relevant to you. We do not control third party Cookies.
We use the following types of Cookies:
Essential Cookies. Essential Cookies that are required for providing you with features or services that you have requested. For example, certain Cookies enable you to log into secure areas of our Site or Services. Disabling these Cookies may make certain features and services unavailable.
Functionality Cookies. Functional Cookies are used to record your choices and settings regarding our Services, maintain your preferences over time and recognize you when you return to our Services. These Cookies help us to personalize our content for you, greet you by name, and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).
Performance/Analytical Cookies. Performance/Analytical Cookies allow us to understand how visitors use our Site and Services such as by collecting information about the number of visitors to the Site, what pages visitors view on our Site and how long visitors are viewing pages on the Site. Performance/Analytical Cookies also help us measure the performance of our advertising campaigns in order to help us improve our campaigns and the Services’ content for those who engage with our advertising. For example, Google, Inc. (“Google”) uses cookies in connection with its Google Analytics services. Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to the Services is subject to the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Privacy Policy. You have the option to opt out of Google’s use of cookies by visiting the Google advertising opt-out page at https://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html or the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/ .
Retargeting/Advertising Cookies. Retargeting/Advertising Cookies collect data about your online activity and identify your interests so that we can provide advertising that we believe is relevant to you. For more information about this, please see the section below titled “Additional information about interest-based advertisements.”
You can decide whether or not to accept Cookies. One way you can do this is through your internet browser’s settings. Most browsers have an option for turning off the Cookie feature, which will prevent your browser from accepting new Cookies, as well as (depending on the sophistication of your browser software) allow you to decide on acceptance of each new Cookie in a variety of ways. You can also delete all Cookies that are already on your computer. If you do this, however, you may have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site and some Services and functionalities may not work.
To explore what Cookie settings are available to you, look in the “preferences” or “options” section of your browser’s menu. To find our more information about Cookies, including information about how to manage and delete Cookies, please visit https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/online/cookies/ or https://www.allaboutcookies.org/.
Additional information about interest-based advertisements:
We may serve advertisements, and also allow third party ad networks, including third party ad servers, ad agencies, ad technology vendors and research firms, to serve advertisements through the Services. These advertisements may be targeted to users who fit certain general profile categories or display certain preferences or behaviors (“Interest-Based Ads”). Information for Internet-Based Ads (including Personal Data) may be provided to us by you, or derived from the usage patterns of particular users on the Services and/or services of Third Parties. Such information may be gathered through tracking users’ activities across time and unaffiliated properties. To accomplish this, we or our service providers may deliver Cookies, including a file (known as a “web beacon”) from an ad network to you through the Services. Web beacons allow ad networks to provide anonymized, aggregated auditing, research, and reporting for us and for advertisers. Web beacons also enable ad networks to serve targeted advertisements to you when you visit other websites. Web beacons allow ad networks to view, edit or set their own Cookies on your browser, just as if you had requested a web page from their site.
Through the Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”) and Network Advertising Initiative (“NAI”), several media and marketing associations have developed an industry self-regulatory program to give consumers a better understanding of and greater control over ads that are customized based on their online behavior across different websites. To make choices about Interest-Based Ads from participating third parties, including to opt out of receiving behaviorally targeted advertisements from participating organizations, please visit the DAA’s or NAI’s consumer opt out pages, which are located at https://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/ or https://www.aboutads.info/choices. Users in the European Union should visit the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance’s user information website https://www.youronlinechoices.eu/.
We do not share your Personal Data with advertisers without your consent. However, if you click on or otherwise interact with an advertisement there is a possibility that the advertiser may place a Cookie in your browser and note that it meets the criteria they selected.
How Do We Use Your Personal Data?
We process Personal Data to operate, improve, understand, and personalize our Services. For example, we use Personal Data to:
Communicate with you about the Services
Protect against or deter fraudulent, illegal, or harmful actions
Allow you to create and/or manage your digital storefront, your sales pages, and your online courses
Allow you to create, manage, and/or subscribe to membership software
Allow you to create, manage, and/or sell digital files
Allow you to create, manage, and/or sell digital downloads and online courses
Contact you about Service announcements, updates, or offers
Personalize website content and communications based on your preferences
Provide support and assistance for the Services
Discover others who might be interested in the Services
To identify trends and other statistical information that may be useful to our business
Comply with our legal or contractual obligations
Resolve disputes
Enforce our Terms of Service (including, for clarity, the Privacy Policy and, where applicable, the EU Data Processing Addendum)
We will only process your Personal Data if we have a lawful basis for doing so. Lawful bases for processing include consent, contractual necessity, and our “legitimate interests” or the legitimate interest of others, as further described below.
Contractual Necessity: We process the following categories of Personal Data as a matter of “contractual necessity,” meaning that we need to process the data to perform under our Terms of Service with you, which enables us to provide you with the Services. When we process data due to contractual necessity, failure to provide such Personal Data will result in your inability to use some or all portions of the Services that require such data.
First and last name
Email address
User Content (which can include Personal Data if you include Personal Data in such content)
IP address
Billing zip code and/or country of residence
Legitimate Interest: We process the following categories of Personal Data when we believe it furthers the legitimate interest of us or third parties.
First and last name
Email address
IP address
Billing zip code and/or country of residence
Examples of these legitimate interests include:
Protection from fraud or security threats
Operation and improvement of our business, products, and services
Marketing of our products and services, directly to you and to others
Provision of customer support
Compliance with legal obligations
Completion of corporate transactions
Consent: In some cases, we process Personal Data based on the consent you expressly grant to us at the time we collect such data. When we process Personal Data based on your consent, it will be expressly indicated to you at the point and time of collection.
Other Processing Grounds: From time to time we may also need to process Personal Data to comply with a legal obligation, if it is necessary to protect the vital interests of you or other data subjects, or if it is necessary for a task carried out in the public interest.
How and With Whom Do We Share Your Data?
We share Personal Data with vendors, third party service providers, and agents who work on our behalf and provide us with services related to the purposes described in this Privacy Policy or our Terms of Service. These parties include:
Payment processors
Fraud prevention service providers
Analytics service providers
Hosting service providers
Marketing service providers
Email providers
Staff augmentation and contract personnel
We also share Personal Data when necessary to complete a transaction initiated or authorized by you or provide you with a product or service you have requested. In addition to those set forth above, these parties also include:
Other users (where you post information publicly or as otherwise necessary to effect a transaction initiated or authorized by you through the Services)
Social media services (if you interact with them through your use of the Services)
Third party business partners who you access through the Services, including vendors
Other parties authorized by you
We also share Personal Data when we believe it is necessary to:
Comply with applicable law or respond to valid legal process, including from law enforcement or other government agencies.
Protect us, our business or our users, for example to enforce our Terms of Service, prevent spam or other unwanted communications and investigate or protect against fraud. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
Maintain the security of our products and services.
As part of the Services, you will receive from Squarespace email and other communications. You acknowledge and agree that by availing yourself of the Services, you allow Squarespace to send you email and other communication that it determines in its sole discretion relate to your use of the Services.
We also share information with third parties when you give us consent to do so. Furthermore, if we choose to buy or sell assets, user information is typically one of the transferred business assets. Moreover, if we, or substantially all of our assets, were acquired, or if we go out of business or enter bankruptcy, user information would be one of the assets that is transferred or acquired by a third party, and we would share Personal Data with the party that is acquiring our assets. You acknowledge that such transfers may occur, and that any acquirer of us or our assets may continue to use your Personal Data as set forth in this policy.
How Long Do We Retain Your Personal Data?
We retain Personal Data about you for as long as you have an open account with us or as otherwise necessary to provide you Services. In some cases we retain Personal Data for longer, if doing so is necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes or collect fees owed, or is otherwise permitted or required by applicable law, rule or regulation. Afterwards, we retain some information in a depersonalized or aggregated form but not in a way that would identify you personally.
What Security Measures Do We Use?
We seek to protect Personal Data using appropriate technical and organizational measures based on the type of Personal Data and applicable processing activity. You need to prevent unauthorized access to your Account and Personal Data by selecting and protecting your password appropriately and limiting access to your device and browser by signing off after you have finished accessing your Account.
We seek to ensure that user account information is kept private. However, Squarespace cannot guarantee the security of any Account information. Unauthorized entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors, may compromise the security of user information at any time.
Do We Store the Personal Data of Children?
As noted in the Terms of Service accessible at https://www.squarespace.com/terms-of-service/, we do not knowingly collect or solicit Personal Data from anyone under the age of 16. If you are under 16, please do not attempt to register for the Services or send any Personal Data about yourself to us. If we learn that we have collected Personal Data from a child under age 16, we will delete that information as quickly as possible. If you believe that a child under 16 may have provided us Personal Data, please contact us at Squarespace.
What Do Users in the European Union Need to Know?
Rights Regarding Your Personal Data
By law, users in the European Union, United Kingdom, Lichtenstein, Norway, or Iceland have certain rights with respect to their Personal Data, including those set forth below. For more information about these rights, or to submit a request, please visit your Account settings at Squarespace customer help. Please note that in some circumstances, we may not be able to fully comply with your request, such as if it is frivolous or extremely impractical, if it jeopardizes the rights of others, or if it is not required by law, but in those circumstances, we will still respond to notify you of such a decision. In some cases, we may also need to you to provide us with additional information, which may include Personal Data, if necessary to verify your identity and the nature of your request.
Access: You can request more information about the Personal Data we hold about you and request a copy of such Personal Data. You can also access certain of your Personal Data by emailing Squarespace.
Rectification: If you believe that any Personal Data we are holding about you is incorrect or incomplete, you can request that we correct or supplement such data by emailing Squarespace. You may also be able to correct some of this information directly by making updates to your account.
Erasure: You can request that we erase some or all of your Personal Data from our systems.
Withdrawal of Consent: If we are processing your Personal Data based on your consent (as indicated at the time of collection of such data), you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Please note, however, that if you exercise this right, you may have to then provide express consent on a case-by-case basis for the use or disclosure of certain of your Personal Data, if such use or disclosure is necessary to enable you to utilize some or all of our Services.
Portability: You can ask for a copy of your Personal Data in a machine-readable format. You can also request that we transmit the data to another controller where technically feasible.
Objection: You can contact us to let us know that you object to the further use or disclosure of your Personal Data for certain purposes, such as for direct marketing purposes.
Restriction of Processing: You can ask us to restrict further processing of your Personal Data.
Right to File Complaint: You have the right to lodge a complaint about Squarespace’s practices with respect to your Personal Data with the supervisory authority of your country or EU Member State.
Transfers of Personal Data
The Services are hosted and operated in the United States (“U.S.”) through Squarespace and its service providers, and if you do not reside in the U.S., laws in the U.S. may differ from the laws where you reside. By using the Services, you acknowledge that any Personal Data about you, regardless of whether provided by you or obtained from a third party, is being provided to Squarespace in the U.S. and will be hosted on U.S. servers, and you authorize Squarespace to transfer, store and process your information to and in the U.S., and possibly other countries. If you live in the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, or Norway, you hereby consent to the transfer of your data in accordance with Exhibit B to the EU Data Processing Addendum, which can be located through Squarespace. Please contact Squarespace with any questions or concerns.
What If You Have Questions Regarding Your Personal Data?
If you have questions, comments or complaints about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices or if you would like to exercise your rights and choices, please email us at privacy@squarespace.com, or write to us at the addresses below:
If you are a resident of or have your principal place of business in the US:
Squarespace, Inc.
Attention: Legal - Privacy
225 Varick Street, 12th Floor
New York, NY 10014 United States
If you are a resident of or have your principal place of business anywhere other than the US:
Squarespace Ireland Limited
Attention: Legal - Privacy
Squarespace House
Ship Street Great
Dublin 8, D08N12C
Ireland
Changes to this Privacy Policy:
Squarespace may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time. Use of information we collect now is subject to the Privacy Policy in effect at the time such information is used. If we make changes in the way we use Personal Data, we will notify you by posting an announcement on our Site or Services or sending you an email. Users are bound by any changes to the Privacy Policy when he or she uses the Services after such changes have been first posted.