This analysis describes what Substack'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
The use of 'may be entitled' conditions these rights on unstated eligibility criteria, meaning they are not guaranteed to every user in every circumstance.
Interpretive note: The phrase 'may be entitled' is a significant legal qualifier indicating that these rights are conditional, not universal. This qualifier is preserved across all fields.
The updated policy discloses that Substack obtains additional information from third parties and sources beyond what it directly collects from you on the platform. This third-party information is combined with platform data to provide what Substack describes as more relevant and safer experiences, and to improve platform analytics. The policy also clarifies that Substack shares account identifiers with child safety industry consortia and receives information from them to detect CSAM. You can review Substack's full privacy policy to understand which third parties may be sources of this information and how your data may be combined with external sources.
View change record →The updated policy discloses that Substack shares account identifiers (email addresses and usernames) with trusted child safety organizations to detect and prevent online child sexual exploitation and abuse. Users now have the right to object to processing of their personal information for personalization purposes on grounds relating to their particular situation, and Substack commits to responding to privacy rights requests within one month. The policy also clarifies that while recipients of direct messages may retain them independently, the platform may restrict your access to messages when other users delete or block you. You can exercise your right to object to personalization processing by contacting privacy@substackinc.com.
View change record →Depending on applicable entitlements, users may have rights to access, correct, erase, restrict, or transfer their Personal Information held by Substack.
How other platforms handle this
Right to Know: The right to request details about the Personal Information we collect, use, or disclose, as well as information about our data practices.
The right to request that we disclose to you the personal information we collect, use, or disclose about you, and information about our data practices.
The CCPA provides California residents specific rights to delete their personal data that we collected from them and retained, subject to certain exceptions (the "right to delete").
"you may be entitled to ask Substack for a copy of your Personal Information, to correct it, erase or restrict its processing, or to ask us to transfer some of this information to other organizations.Excerpt from Substack's Privacy Policy
Ad personalization controls removed. Contact scanning added. Advertiser data partnerships quietly dropped. A timeline of every change.
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The use of 'may be entitled' conditions these rights on unstated eligibility criteria, meaning they are not guaranteed to every user in every circumstance.
Depending on applicable entitlements, users may have rights to access, correct, erase, restrict, or transfer their Personal Information held by Substack.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 277 platforms. See the full comparison.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Substack.