When you play a game on Steam, information about your account and ownership may be shared with the game's publisher or developer and other Valve business partners who provide services to you.
This analysis describes what Steam's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
Your personal data, including your Steam ID and potentially game statistics, may flow to third-party developers and publishers who operate under their own privacy policies, creating privacy exposure beyond Valve's direct control.
Interpretive note: The policy does not enumerate which specific data elements are shared with each developer category or confirm that all receiving developers operate under contractually binding data protection obligations.
This addition explicitly clarifies data sharing practices with game developers and publishers, specifying the purposes and scope of third-party data transfers.
View full change record →Game publishers and developers who distribute through Steam may receive your account and game-related data, meaning your gaming behavior and identity could be processed by companies whose privacy practices differ from Valve's. The extent of data shared with each developer depends on the specific service arrangement and may not be individually disclosed.
How other platforms handle this
Protect us, our business, our users, and others, for example to enforce our terms of service, prevent spam or other unwanted communications, and investigate or protect against fraud
we may use, retain or share information with law enforcement or others in circumstances where a person's vital interests require protection, such as in the case of emergencies.
Third-party apps use data from Gemini consistent with their own privacy policies and terms.
"In order to provide you with services, Valve needs to share some data with the publisher or developer of the game (for example to verify your ownership of the game and register your Steam ID with the publisher), or with other third parties that Valve works with to provide services to you. Valve will only share data in a way that is consistent with the purposes described in this policy. Third parties in this context are companies that offer their products or services through Valve.Excerpt from Steam's Privacy Policy
(1) REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: This provision engages GDPR Article 28 (processor agreements) and Article 26 (joint controller arrangements) where applicable, as well as CCPA disclosure requirements for third-party data sharing.
Enforcement risk, jurisdiction flags, contract triggers, and due diligence action items.
ConductAtlas detected a major restructuring of Meta’s privacy policy that removed detailed consumer rights disclosures and relocated them to separate documents.
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.
Get the research letter
Companies change their terms quietly. We read every version and catch what actually changed. One email a week on the changes that matter and what they mean.
Your personal data, including your Steam ID and potentially game statistics, may flow to third-party developers and publishers who operate under their own privacy policies, creating privacy exposure beyond Valve's direct control.
Game publishers and developers who distribute through Steam may receive your account and game-related data, meaning your gaming behavior and identity could be processed by companies whose privacy practices differ from Valve's. The extent of data shared with each developer depends on the specific service arrangement and may not be individually disclosed.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 288 platforms. See the full comparison.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Steam.