GDPR Compliance
The information contained on this page is a commentary on the GDPR, as Chatfuel interprets it, as of the date of publication. We’ve spent a lot of time with GDPR and like to think we’ve been thoughtful about its intent and meaning. But the application of GDPR is highly fact-specific, and not all aspects and interpretations of GDPR are well-settled. As a result, this information is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal advice or to determine how GDPR might apply to you and your organization. We encourage you to work with a legally qualified professional to discuss GDPR, how it applies specifically to your organization, and how best to ensure compliance. CHATFUEL MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION ON THIS PAGE. This information is provided “as-is”. Information and views expressed here, including URL and other Internet website references, may change without notice. This document does not provide you with any legal rights to any intellectual property in any Chatfuel product. You may copy and use this information for your internal, reference purposes only.
What is GDPR?
On 25 May 2018, the most significant piece of European data protection legislation to be introduced in 20 years went into force. The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) replaced the 1995 EU Data Protection Directive.
The GDPR strengthens the rights that individuals have regarding personal data relating to them and seeks to unify data protection laws across Europe, regardless of where that data is processed. As a result, many organizations that have access to and process the personal data of EU-based users are subject to its rules and regulations. Since many of our bot creators are based in the EU, while many of those outside the EU have EU-based bot users, we need to address these rules and regulations accordingly.
What has Chatfuel done to comply?
Chatfuel is a company headquartered in the U.S., but we have customers and bot users located in the EU. Although we do not have any physical locations in the EU, we recognize that many of our users are directly affected by the GDPR and expect us to comply, so they can keep using our product with confidence that they do it in accordance with the legislation.
Therefore, we’ve addressed the GDPR requirements that apply to us as a processor (and in some cases a subprocessor) of personal data by implementing specific legal, technical and organizational measures aimed to address data privacy and security concerns:
- We’ve put in place contractual measures in the form of a Data Processing Addendum (DPA) to our Terms of Use, in accordance with the GDPR requirements. It came into effect the day GDPR came into force, and all platform users were asked to accept the terms prior to that date.
- We’ve ensured that we have appropriate contractual measures in place with each of our data subprocessors, such as cloud service and analytics providers.
- We’ve implemented and outlined specific technical and organizational measures (Annex II to the Standard Contractual Clauses in our DPA) to ensure data privacy and security, and put in place internal protocols and processes to address the GDPR requirements for the storage, processing and control of personal data.
- We’ve updated our Privacy Policy to add EU-specific clauses.
GDPR Compliance Webinar
Watch the recording of the GDPR compliance webinar we held on April 26, 2018 to go over the specifics of the legislation and how it applies to Chatfuel, our customers, and the bot users. We also discuss the measures we have taken towards compliance with the requirements.
Update: Meta (then Facebook) released additional policy updates for Messenger related to EU privacy laws, effective as of December 16, 2020. See Meta’s changelog of Messenger updates for Europe to find out how they may impact your chatbot.
Updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
In accordance with the GDPR requirements, we have updated our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We encourage you to read both documents in full and contact us if you have any questions.
These updates took effect on May 25, 2018. By continuing to use our services on or after that date, you acknowledge our updated Privacy Policy and agree to the updated Terms of Use.
- Any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’). An identifiable person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as name, email address or location, and also online identifiers like IP address, types of website cookies and other device identifiers.
- A data controller is the entity or person that determines the purposes and means of processing the personal data of EU residents. For example, Chatfuel is a data processor and, depending on their function, Chatfuel’s customers (bot creators) are either controllers or primary processors in relation to personal data subject to GDPR.
The GDPR applies to both data controllers and processors. Controllers collect data from the end user who is, in most cases, an EU resident, for clearly stated purposes and with appropriate consent. Data processors provide services to the controller in accordance with each controller’s instructions.
Another category, sub-processors (third-party businesses performing data processing for other companies), is also accountable for the protection of personal data under the GDPR. - No, the GDPR does not require EU personal data to stay in the EU, nor does it materially change the landscape for data transfers outside the EU.
Data transfers from the EU to outside can be legitimized in many ways, including:- the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which replaced the EU-US Privacy Shield after it was invalidated in 2020
- Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs)
- Binding Corporate Rules (BCR)
- GDPR does not only cover EU residents’ data. For example, data of US residents would also fall under GDPR to the extent an EU-established entity processes such data in the EU.
- GDPR can apply any time personally identifiable information of any EU resident is stored and processed. It does not depend on the physical location or territory. Also, establishments in the EU are subject to GDPR regardless of where personal data comes from.
- If you elect to integrate a 3rd party service to pass your bot users’ data to, you need to ensure that the service has taken all the necessary measures to be compliant with GDPR. Since bot admins have direct access to data and control how data gets to Chatfuel as well as where the data goes outside of Chatfuel, they would be bound by GDPR rules as either a controller or a processor of data. Talk to your legal counsel to evaluate your exposure to GDPR and any additional steps you need to take to be in compliance.
- If your users ask you to delete their personal data, you can simply delete those users from the ‘People’ tab in your bot’s dashboard. All of their data will be removed from our databases for that particular Facebook page. If you’ve passed any of your users’ data to any 3rd party services (Zapier, Make, a CRM service, etc.), you are responsible for ensuring that the user data is deleted from those services as well.
- We have taken all the necessary steps for Chatfuel to be in compliance with the requirements of GDPR. Accepting Chatfuel’s DPA, which is part of our Terms of Use, is an important step towards your compliance. Talk to your legal counsel to evaluate your individual organizational processes and understand what you may need to do in addition to ensure full compliance.
- The way Meta’s Messenger team answers this question is:
“The GDPR defines several possible legal bases for processing information. Depending on your use case, you may need to rely on users’ explicit consent to process their data. The way you obtain consent may vary, for example you may want to ask for consent when a user is talking to your bot via message or a webview. We suggest you confer with legal counsel to determine the requirements for your business.”
When you collect any personal data from the bot users, you are responsible for establishing the proper ‘opt in’ mechanics as may be appropriate with regards to GDPR. If your users elect to opt out, please reach out to us and we will remove their data individually.
Additional Resources
Please refer to the European Commission’s data protection pages, the EDPB guide for small businesses and the Meta Privacy Center for additional resources and FAQs. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please let us know: [email protected]