Shopify processes your customers' personal data on your behalf, but it is your responsibility as the merchant to make sure you have proper privacy notices, consent mechanisms, and legal compliance in place for how you collect and use customer data.
End consumers who shop on Shopify-powered stores should know that their personal data (name, email, payment details, browsing history) is controlled by the merchant and processed by Shopify, and privacy complaints should be directed to the individual merchant as the data controller, not solely to Shopify.
How other platforms handle this
Partners & Integrated Service Providers: Third party partners who provide 'add-ons' or integrations to our Services through the Twilio Marketplace or other Twilio provided catalogue (such as Segment Connections). To facilitate seamless interoperability between Twilio and third-party services. This i...
We may disclose your data to: (i) comply with a legal process, such as a court order, subpoena or search warrant, government / law enforcement investigation or other legal requirements; (ii) assist in the prevention or detection of crime; (iii) protect the safety of any person; and (iv) establish, e...
We may disclose your information to third parties if we determine that such disclosure is reasonably necessary to: (a) comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or appropriate government request; (b) protect any person from death or serious bodily injury; (c) prevent fraud or abuse ...
Merchants are the data controllers under GDPR and similar laws, meaning they — not Shopify — bear primary legal responsibility for how customer data is collected, processed, and protected; a data breach or privacy violation can expose the merchant to regulatory fines, not just Shopify.
(1) REGULATORY FRAMEWORK: Directly implicates GDPR Arts. 4(7), 4(8), 28, and 32 — Shopify is a data processor and merchants are data controllers; the GDPR mandates a written Data Processing Agreement (DPA/DPA) between controller and processor. CCPA §1798.100 and §1798.140 regarding service provider relationships and merchant obligations; PIPEDA (Canada) for merchants with Canadian customers; UK GDPR; and applicable national privacy laws in all jurisdictions where merchants operate. Enforcement authorities: EU DPAs (including CNIL, BfDI, ICO), California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA), and FTC. (2)
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Regulatory citations, enforcement risk, and due diligence action items.
Watcher: regulatory citations. Professional: full compliance memo.
Your genetic data may be transferred to a new owner as a business asset. Here is what the Terms of Service actually say and what you can do right now.