Google · Google Privacy Policy

Legal Process and Government Data Disclosure

Medium severity
Share 𝕏 Share in Share 🔒 PDF

What it is

Google will share your personal data with governments and law enforcement agencies when it receives a legally valid request, such as a court order, subpoena, or national security letter.

Change history

modified Apr 18, 2026

Renamed to 'Law Enforcement and Legal Disclosure' and added a new commitment to notify users of legal demands for their personal information with exceptions for law or court order prohibitions.

View full change record →

Consumer impact (what this means for users)

Governments and law enforcement agencies can obtain your Gmail messages, location history, search queries, and other Google account data through legal process, and Google's policy does not commit to notifying you before complying with such requests (except where legally permitted).

How other platforms handle this

Skillshare Medium

By enrolling in a class, other content on Skillshare, an Event, or by engaging in a Marketplace transaction, you grant us permission to share your information, including personal data (as further specified in our Privacy Policy), with the Teacher offering the content or Event or participating in the...

LinkedIn Medium

Our Services allow messaging and sharing of information in many ways, such as your profile, social actions you take, videos, and so on. Information and content that you share or post may be seen by other Members, Visitors or others (including off of our Services). Where we have made settings availab...

Adobe Medium

If we merge with or are acquired by another company, sell an Adobe website, app, or business unit, or if all or a substantial portion of our assets are acquired by another company, your information will likely be disclosed to the prospective purchaser, our advisers and any other prospective purchase...

See all platforms with this clause type →
Need full compliance memos? See Professional →

Why it matters (compliance & risk perspective)

Because Google stores extensive personal data including location history, emails, search queries, and voice recordings, a single legal order could expose years of intimate personal information to government authorities — including in countries with authoritarian governments where Google operates.

View original clause language
We will share personal information outside of Google if we have a good-faith belief that access, use, preservation, or disclosure of the information is reasonably necessary to: meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or enforceable governmental request.

Institutional analysis (Compliance & legal intelligence)

REGULATORY FRAMEWORK: Government disclosure obligations engage the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA, 18 U.S.C. §§2701–2712), the Stored Communications Act (SCA, 18 U.S.C. §2703), Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and National Security Letters (18 U.S.C. §2709). For EU users, GDPR Art. 48 restricts enforcement of foreign court judgments requiring data transfers absent an international agreement. The CLOUD Act (Pub. L. 115-141) governs cross-border law enforcement data requests.

🔒

Compliance intelligence locked

Regulatory citations, enforcement risk, and due diligence action items.

Watcher $9.99/mo Professional $149/mo

Watcher: regulatory citations. Professional: full compliance memo.

Applicable agencies

  • FTC
    The FTC has authority over whether Google's disclosures about government data sharing are accurate and non-deceptive under FTC Act Section 5.
    File a complaint →

Applicable regulations

BIPA
Illinois, USA
CCPA/CPRA
California, USA
COPPA
United States Federal
CAN-SPAM
United States Federal
DMA
European Union
FCRA
United States Federal
GDPR
European Union
GLBA
United States Federal
HIPAA
United States Federal
UK GDPR
United Kingdom

Provision details

Document information
Document
Google Privacy Policy
Entity
Google
Document last updated
March 24, 2026
Tracking information
First tracked
March 6, 2026
Last verified
April 9, 2026
Record ID
CA-P-002362
Document ID
CA-D-00015
Evidence Provenance
Source URL
Wayback Machine
SHA-256
7ae2c5414225f559d94f625194b17341f89b75a40ea396c34fd6aba669517459
Verified
✓ Snapshot stored   ✓ Change verified
How to Cite
ConductAtlas Policy Archive
Entity: Google | Document: Google Privacy Policy | Record: CA-P-002362
Captured: 2026-03-06 20:40:05 UTC | SHA-256: 7ae2c5414225f559…
URL: https://conductatlas.com/platform/google/google-privacy-policy/legal-process-and-government-data-disclosure/
Accessed: April 29, 2026
Classification
Severity
Medium
Categories

Other provisions in this document

Related Analysis