Bitly Privacy Policy
FIRST SEEN 2026-07-29 · VERSION 20260729_rev01 · COMPARED WITH 20250501_rev01
Full text changes — 20250501_rev01 to 20260729_rev01
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| 5 | 5 | This Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of other businesses that Bitly does not own or control, including other companies' websites, services and applications ("Third Party Services") that you can access through the Services or to individuals that Bitly does not manage or employ. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any Third Party Services you access or use. Please note that we cannot take responsibility for the content or privacy policies of Third Party Services, and any third party policies linked to this Privacy Policy are strictly for informational purposes only. |
| 6 | 6 | |
| 7 | 7 | Please note that our privacy practices are subject to the applicable laws of the regions in which we operate. Accordingly, some additional region-specific terms will only apply to individuals in those locations, or as required by applicable laws. _**If you are a United States resident of California, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut or certain other U.S. states**_, please see the sections titled **California Privacy Rights**, and **Virginia/Colorado/Connecticut and certain other U.S. State Privacy Rights** for specific disclosures with respect to our collection, use, and disclosure of your information and additional rights you have under applicable U.S. laws. |
| 8 | 8 | |
| 9 | 9 | **ACCESSIBILITY:** IF YOU ARE HAVING ANY TROUBLE ACCESSING THIS PRIVACY POLICY, PLEASE CONTACT US AT [PRIVACY@BIT.LY](mailto:PRIVACY@BIT.LY). |
| 10 | 10 | |
| 11 | ##### Contact Information | |
| 11 | Contact Information | |
| 12 | 12 | |
| 13 | 13 | This Privacy Policy describes the policies and procedures of **Bitly, Inc.**, DPT 5006, 601 W. 26th Street, Suite 357 (3rd Floor), New York, NY 10001, the United States, ("Bitly Inc."), and **Bitly Europe GmbH**, c/o BK Wirtschaftstreuhand GmbH, Spichernstraße 1, 10777 Berlin, Germany ("Bitly Europe"), (Bitly Inc. and Bitly Europe collectively "Bitly") for the collection, use, and disclosure of personal data about you for which either of us act as the data controller, or for which we act as joint controllers, in accordance with the European Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") and other applicable laws. |
| 14 | 14 | |
| 15 | 15 | If you have any questions or concerns regarding privacy when using the Services of Bitly wish to use your rights, such as to object to the processing or have your personal data removed, please send us a detailed message to: [privacy@bit.ly](mailto:privacy@bit.ly) for US matters and/or [privacy-eu@bit.ly](mailto:privacy-eu@bit.ly) for EU matters. We will make every effort to resolve your concerns. Please also see "**Rights of Data Subjects**" for more detailed information on your rights as the data subject. The designated data protection officer of Bitly Europe is **DataCo GmbH**, Nymphenburger Str. 86, 80636 Munich, Germany, [datenschutz@dataguard.de](mailto:datenschutz@dataguard.de), [www.dataguard.de](https://www.dataguard.de/). |
| 16 | 16 | |
| 17 | ##### Bitly Group Services | |
| 17 | Bitly Group Services | |
| 18 | 18 | |
| 19 | 19 | **Bitly Services** Bitly collects personal data about you from the following sources, as described in this Privacy Policy, when you (i) register for the Site and the Services, through your user account with Bitly, including registering through a third-party service (your "Account"); (ii) use the Services; or (iii) view or interact with a Bitly link, QR Code, Link in Bio or other Bitly Product (either our bit.ly links or one of our branded domains) on a third-party website. We collect the following types of information from you, some of which might be considered personal data under applicable law: |
| 20 | 20 | |
| 21 | 21 | **When You Register for a Bitly Account** |
| 22 | 22 | |
| 23 | 23 | When you create an Account, we collect the personal data from you, such as your name, phone number, company name, industry, job title, company size, email address, phone number and sign-in information. If you create an Account using your login information from a third-party account, such as Google, Facebook, Apple, or Twitter, we will access and collect the personal data about you that the third-party account provides (which is based on your privacy settings with the third-party account), so that you can log into your Account with us. We use your contact information to send you information about our Services and communicate with you about your Account, your activities on our Site and Services and policy changes. You may unsubscribe from receiving certain types of these messages through your Account settings, although Bitly reserves the right to contact you when we believe it is necessary, such as for administrative and account management purposes. |
| 83 | 83 | **With Your Consent -** We will share information about you when you direct or otherwise instruct us to do so, such as when you share QR Codes or content with others through the Services, if you intentionally use or direct us or the Services to interact with third parties, or if we notify you that the information you provide will be shared in a particular manner and you provide such information (like sharing/posting it with a third-party Service). |
| 84 | 84 | |
| 85 | 85 | The legal basis for processing of customer data for the Services and related communications is that the processing is necessary for performance of the requested service and management of the customer relationship subject to Bitly Terms of Service. The legal basis for other communications with the customer, such as marketing, is our legitimate interests to promote sales and increase awareness of Bitly Services, and communicate with our interest groups. Where such communications require consent, for example if we wish to market via email our Services to a new customer who is a natural person in the EU, the legal basis is your consent. The legal basis for improving, monitoring and analyzing the Services, and to prevent malicious, fraudulent or unlawful activity is our legitimate interests to ensure security and lawfulness of our Services, including protecting data of our customers and users, and preventing unauthorized or wrongful use. |
| 86 | 86 | |
| 87 | 87 | This personal data is used to authenticate users to allow access to Bitly's Services, to identify users to provide customer support, and store events and log information about your use of the Services for purposes of audit in case of a security or other incident to have a trail of actions performed by us and our users, to maintain support records, to promote sales and increase awareness of Bitly's Services, and for purposes of service and product improvement, and to prevent malicious fraudulent or unlawful activity. The data is removed upon request, except for data (such as user name) stored in application logs and audit trails, which are deleted according to our standard data management cycle. We retain the personal data we receive as described in this Privacy Policy for as long as you use our Services or as necessary to fulfill the purpose(s) for which it was collected, provide our Services, resolve disputes, establish legal defenses, conduct audits, pursue legitimate business purposes, enforce our agreements, and comply with applicable legal obligations. Aggregated data sets that do not contain personal data are stored for an indefinite period for the purpose of business analysis. The personal data is erased from or anonymized in our systems upon request of the data subject or the customer they represent, or if the data is detected as irrelevant in our automated or manual system maintenance, or after 3 years following the last contact with the data subject, whichever occurs first. |
| 88 | 88 | |
| 89 | ##### Contracts, Purchase Orders and Invoicing | |
| 89 | Contracts, Purchase Orders and Invoicing | |
| 90 | 90 | |
| 91 | 91 | For any individual that acts as the contact person for our customer, supplier, partner or other entity that we conduct or wish to conduct business with, we process the following information: |
| 92 | 92 | |
| 93 | 93 | - Basic information (such as name, title, company name, work location and contact information) |
| 94 | 94 | - Business connections |
| 95 | 95 | - Communications |
| 96 | 96 | |
| 97 | 97 | The individual acting as the contact person in a primary source of information, but the personal data may also be collected from your employees, your colleagues, and our (other) customers, suppliers and partners. The personal data is used to discuss business, pursue business opportunities, send notifications related to our services and otherwise communicate with you, contracting, invoicing and making payments. The processing is based on our legitimate interests to comply with contractual obligations, or the terms of agreements we have (or have had), maintaining relationships, and operating our business. In addition, the invoicing related personal data will be used in accounting and reporting, which processing shall be based on our obligations under the law. |
| 98 | 98 | |
| 99 | ##### Website and Contact Requests | |
| 99 | Website and Contact Requests | |
| 100 | 100 | |
| 101 | 101 | Bitly Inc and Bitly Europe process personal data gathered when you use or access their respective websites, including any and all subdomains of the sites (each "Site", as applicable), respectively. |
| 102 | 102 | |
| 103 | 103 | Each time Site is accessed, our system automatically collects data and relevant information from the computer system of the calling device. |
| 104 | 104 | |
| 105 | 105 | The following data is collected: |
| 122 | 122 | LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy](https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy) |
| 123 | 123 | |
| 124 | 124 | Bitly may use third-party APIs and software development kits ("SDKs") to provide certain functions in our Services. We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes: Technically necessary; Comfort; Statistics; Marketing. When we use cookies and/ or similar techniques for processing personal data, the types of personal data processed may vary, depending on the categories of cookies or similar techniques. Non-essential cookies are used only with your consent. You have the option of preventing cookies from being |
| 125 | 125 | |
| 126 | 126 | Please see our [Cookie Policy](https://bitly.com/pages/cookies) and [EU Cookie Policy](https://www.qr-code-generator.com/company/cookie-policy/) to learn how Bitly and its partners use cookies or similar technologies to analyze trends, administer the website, track users' movements around the website, and to gather demographic information about our user base. |
| 127 | 127 | |
| 128 | ##### Newsletters, Events and Marketing | |
| 128 | Newsletters, Events and Marketing | |
| 129 | 129 | |
| 130 | 130 | If you subscribe to our newsletter or for other materials (such as blogs, newsletters available on our websites), we will process the given contact information to send the newsletter or provide the materials. Such processing is based on your consent and the necessity to fulfill our obligation to provide the subscribed material(s). The contact information is retained and possibly shared as described below. |
| 131 | 131 | |
| 132 | 132 | We use following information to communicate on and promote our services (as compatible with the original purposes, if data is collected in another occasion): |
| 133 | 133 | |
| 134 | 134 | - Basic information (such as name, title, company name, work location, contact information) |
| 144 | 144 | The personal data above is used to generate leads, target marketing activities to the contacts representing potential and current customers (for example to help our sales teams to target their efforts to contacts with potential interest in our services) and other stakeholders (including our suppliers and partners), and to retarget and customize our marketing. Naturally, the data is used to provide product and service updates, announce new materials, invitations to our events, and otherwise market our products and services and provide related information in different channels, such as emails, phone calls, on social platforms and over display. For example, we may retarget relevant contacts by serving new retail content on LinkedIn based on previous engagement with retail content on the Bitly Group websites. In addition, personal data is used, as applicable, for business intelligence, market and customer analysis, reporting and statistical purposes, and to better understand how people interact with our websites and services. |
| 145 | 145 | |
| 146 | 146 | Once we have obtained your consent, the processing is needed to carry out marketing and reach our current and potential customers. You have a right to prohibit use of your contact information in marketing at any time by using the available web-tools (such as the "unsubscribe" button at the end of newsletter) or by sending us a notice (you can find the Contact Information at the very end of this Privacy Policy). |
| 147 | 147 | |
| 148 | 148 | Personal data stored for marketing purposes are deleted upon request of the contact, if the data is identified as out of date, or if the contact is no longer deemed a suitable candidate for our services. |
| 149 | 149 | |
| 150 | ##### Data Sharing and Joint Processing within Bitly Group | |
| 150 | Data Sharing and Joint Processing within Bitly Group | |
| 151 | 151 | |
| 152 | 152 | Please note that if you hold a Bitly Account(s) and/or use Bitly Services managed by other Bitly entities, personal data collected by us is combined with personal data collected in connection with such other Services. Sharing and combining the personal data is based on Bitly's legitimate interests in finding synergies generated from performing, planning, and developing business at the group level, and in promoting sales by cross and up-selling complementary products of group companies. The Bitly group companies have combined their customer support services to provide more effective global customer support. Your inquiries can be answered by both Bitly Europe and Bitly Inc. employees and collaborators. You can assert your data subject rights with Bitly Inc. as well as with us. The primary responsibility under GDPR for the processing of data lies with the entity which you are contracting or which is communicating with you. |
| 153 | 153 | |
| 154 | 154 | Bitly Europe and Bitly Inc. are joint controllers according to Art. 26 GDPR. Bitly Inc. and Bitly Europe GmbH have concluded a joint controller agreement in accordance with the GDPR, in which we have made arrangements about our joint responsibilities with regards to the processing of your personal data. To protect your personal data, we have concluded so-called standard contractual clauses ("SCCs"). SCCs are data protection regulations issued by the European Commission, the conclusion of which imposes legal obligations on the data importer and the implementation of which guarantees compliance with European data protection standards. |
| 155 | 155 | |
| 156 | 156 | Personal data may be transferred outside the European Union and the European Economic Area, including, but not limited to, the United States of America as well as other locations and jurisdictions in which we conduct our business or our service providers are located. Such transfers are performed subject to standard data protection clauses adopted by the EU Commission in accordance with the GDPR, which are made available to the data subject upon request. |
| 377 | 377 | You have the right to revoke your declaration of consent under data protection law at any time. The revocation of the consent does not affect the lawfulness of the processing carried out on the basis of the consent up to the revocation. You may prevent the collection and processing of your personal data by Google by preventing the storage of cookies by third parties on your computer, by using the "Do Not Track" function of a supporting browser, by deactivating the execution of script code in your browser or by installing a script blocker to Google and to prevent the processing of this data by Google by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available under the following link: [https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en](https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout) |
| 378 | 378 | With the following link you can deactivate the use of your personal data by Google: [https://adssettings.google.de](https://adssettings.google.de/) |
| 379 | 379 | Further information on objection and removal options against Google can be found at: [https://business.safety.google/privacy/](https://business.safety.google/privacy/) |
| 380 | 380 | |
| 381 | 381 | For more information on terms of use and data protection in connection with Google Analytics, please visit [www.google.com/analytics/terms/de.html](http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/de.html) or [www.google.com/intl/de/analytics/privacyoverview.html](https://www.google.com/intl/de/analytics/privacyoverview.html). In addition, you can object to processing on the basis of legitimate interest by sending an email to [privacy@bit.ly](mailto:privacy@bit.ly). |
| 382 | 382 | |
| 383 | ##### Rights under the GDPR | |
| 383 | Rights under the GDPR | |
| 384 | 384 | |
| 385 | 385 | If you are a resident of the EEA or Switzerland, or otherwise subject to the GDPR, and we process your personal data, you have the right to ask for the following rights: |
| 386 | 386 | |
| 387 | 387 | - In all cases a right to be informed about processing by Bitly that pertains to personal data based on which you may be identified, and access to a copy of such personal data (Art. 15 GDPR). |
| 388 | 388 | - If the personal data that is being processed is incorrect or inaccurate, you are entitled to demand for the data to be corrected (Art. 16 GDPR). |
| 389 | 389 | - Subject to the conditions set in the GDPR, you may demand for the deletion or limitation of the processing and have the right to object to the processing altogether (Art. 17, 18, and 21 GDPR). |
| 424 | 424 | Depending on your location, information about you may be transferred to the United States or other countries outside the EU or European Economic Area (EEA) or may be processed there. These data transfers are necessary to provide you with the Services and functionalities you have requested as outlined in this policy. |
| 425 | 425 | |
| 426 | 426 | To protect your personal data, we rely on appropriate legal basis for each data transfer. In particular, we use contractual safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission. Where applicable, we base data transfers also on adequacy decisions issued by the European Commission. |
| 427 | 427 | |
| 428 | 428 | Please feel free to contact us for further information about international data transfers, including to obtain access to a copy of applicable safeguards. |
| 429 | 429 | |
| 430 | ##### California Privacy Rights | |
| 430 | California Privacy Rights | |
| 431 | 431 | |
| 432 | 432 | The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 ("CCPA"), as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, provides you with specific rights regarding your "personal information," as that term is defined under the CCPA. This section describes the rights that California consumers have and explains how to exercise those rights. For the purposes of this section, personal information does not include: (i) information that is lawfully made available from federal, state or local government records; (ii) de-identified or aggregated data; or (iii) information excluded from the scope of the CCPA. To be clear, these rights are granted only to the extent that you are a California consumer and we are acting as a "business" under the CCPA with respect to your personal information. The rights in this section are not intended to grant you additional rights, but only your rights under the CCPA. |
| 433 | 433 | |
| 434 | 434 | _Information We Collect; How We Collect It; How We Use It_ |
| 435 | 435 | |
| 436 | 436 | We have collected the following categories of personal information from consumers from the sources described in the Privacy Policy above, specifically the categories of sources identified in the subsection titled "Bitly Connections Platform Services" (under the section "Bitly Group Services"), and have shared such personal information with the following categories of third parties within the last twelve (12) months: |
| 493 | 493 | In addition to the above rights, under California Civil Code Section 1798.83 ("Shine the Light"), California residents may have the right to request in writing from businesses with whom they have an established business relationship: (a) a list of the categories of personal information, as defined under Shine the Light, such as name, email address, and mailing address, and the type of services provided to the customer that a business has disclosed to third parties (including affiliates that are separate legal entities) during the immediately preceding calendar year for the third parties' direct marketing purposes; and (b) the names and addresses of all such third parties. To request the above information, please contact us by email at [privacy@bit.ly](mailto:privacy@bit.ly). If you do not want your personal information shared with any third party who may use such information for direct marketing purposes, then you may opt out of such disclosures by sending an email to us at [privacy@bit.ly](mailto:privacy@bit.ly). |
| 494 | 494 | |
| 495 | 495 | _Contacting Us_ |
| 496 | 496 | |
| 497 | 497 | If you have questions or concerns about this privacy policy, your California privacy rights, or our information practices, please email us at [privacy@bit.ly](mailto:privacy@bit.ly). |
| 498 | 498 | |
| 499 | ##### Virginia/Colorado/Connecticut and certain other U.S. State Privacy Rights | |
| 499 | Virginia/Colorado/Connecticut and certain other U.S. State Privacy Rights | |
| 500 | 500 | |
| 501 | 501 | The Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act, the Colorado Privacy Act, and the Connecticut Data Privacy Act and similar laws in other U.S. states ("State Privacy Laws") provide their consumers with specific rights regarding their personal data. To the extent that you are a resident of one of these states, this section describes your rights under the State Privacy Laws and explains how you may exercise these rights. |
| 502 | 502 | |
| 503 | 503 | The categories of personal data we process, our purposes for processing your personal data, the categories of personal data that we share with third parties, and the categories of third parties with whom we share it are set forth in the terms of the Privacy Policy above. |
| 504 | 504 | |
| 505 | 505 | _Rights to Your Information_ |
| 537 | 537 | If we decline to take action on a request that you have submitted, we will inform you of our reasons for doing so, and provide instructions for how to appeal the decision. You will have the right to appeal within a reasonable period of time after you have received our decision. Within 60 days (45 days for residents of Colorado) of our receipt of your appeal, we will inform you in writing of any action taken or not taken in response to the appeal, including a written explanation of the reasons for the decisions. If we deny your appeal, we will provide you with a method for contacting your state attorney general's office to submit a complaint. |
| 538 | 538 | |
| 539 | 539 | **Nevada Privacy Rights** |
| 540 | 540 | |
| 541 | 541 | If you are a resident of Nevada, you have the right to opt out of the sale of certain personal data that we have collected (or may collect) from you to data brokers or other third parties. You can exercise this right by emailing us at [privacy@bit.ly](mailto:privacy@bit.ly) with the subject line "Nevada Do Not Sell Request." |
| 542 | 542 | |
| 543 | ##### Children's Privacy | |
| 543 | Children's Privacy | |
| 544 | 544 | |
| 545 | 545 | We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If we learn that we have collected personal data of a child under 13 (or older as required by applicable law), we will take steps to delete such information from our systems as soon as possible. If you believe we might have any personal data from or about a child under 13, please contact us at [privacy@bit.ly](mailto:privacy@bit.ly). |
| 546 | 546 | |
| 547 | ##### Data Privacy Framework (EU-US, UK Extension and Swiss-US) | |
| 547 | Data Privacy Framework (EU-US, UK Extension and Swiss-US) | |
| 548 | 548 | |
| 549 | 549 | Bitly complies with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (EU-U.S. DPF), the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (Swiss-U.S. DPF) as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Bitly has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (EU-U.S. DPF Principles) with regard to the processing of personal data received from the European Union in reliance on the EU-U.S. DPF and from the United Kingdom (and Gibraltar) in reliance on the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF. Bitly has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles) with regard to the processing of personal data received from Switzerland in reliance on the Swiss-U.S. DPF. If there is any conflict between the terms in this privacy policy and the EU-U.S. DPF Principles and/or the Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles, the Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Data Privacy Framework (DPF) program, and to view our certification, please visit [https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/](https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/). |
| 550 | 550 | |
| 551 | 551 | In compliance with the EU-U.S. DPF, the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF and the Swiss-U.S. DPF, Bitly commits to refer unresolved complaints concerning our handling of personal data received in reliance on the EU-U.S. DPF, the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF and the Swiss-U.S. DPF to JAMS Data Privacy Framework Dispute Resolution, an alternative dispute resolution provider based in the United States. If you do not receive timely acknowledgment of your DPF Principles-related complaint from us, or if we have not addressed your DPF Principles-related complaint to your satisfaction, please visit [https://www.jamsadr.com/DPF-Dispute-Resolution](https://www.jamsadr.com/DPF-Dispute-Resolution) for more information or to file a complaint. The services of JAMS Data Privacy Framework Dispute Resolution are provided at no cost to you. |
| 552 | 552 | |
| 553 | 553 | Bitly is subject to the investigatory and enforcement powers of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Under certain conditions, individuals have the right to invoke binding arbitration related to their personal data. In some cases, we hold liability in cases of onward transfers of data to third parties. |
| 554 | 554 | |
| 555 | ##### Changes to our Privacy Policy | |
| 555 | Changes to our Privacy Policy | |
| 556 | 556 | |
| 557 | 557 | We reserve the right to make changes to this Privacy Policy at any time. If we make material changes in the way we collect or use information, we will provide notice by posting an announcement on the Services or sending you an email, and we will indicate when those changes will become effective. You are agreeing to any changes to the Privacy Policy when you use the Services after those changes become effective. |