Data processing and legal bases summary

The table below contains a list of the general purposes for which we process personal data from the European Union and EFTA States, and the primary legal bases we rely on for such processing. Some processing activities may be accounted for in multiple rows if the processing or data involved is sufficiently distinct.

For example, advertising revenues allow us to support and improve our services. To provide this advertising we process some of your data and rely on legitimate interests as the legal basis for doing so. We also offer you the ability to further personalize the ads you see based on data we receive about you from our advertising partners. We rely on consent as our legal basis for processing your data to provide these ads. 

For additional details about the types of data we receive and our processing activities, please read our Privacy Policy.

Current as of May 25, 2018

Processing purposeDataPrimary legal basis/bases

Operating our services, including:

Information you share with us, including:

Additional information we receive about you, including:

Inferences about you, as described below, based on this data.

Contractual necessity

Safety and security features, including authentication, anti-spam, fraud protection, and quality and abuse prevention

Information you share with us, including:

Additional information we receive about you, including:

Inferences about you, as described below, based on this data.

Contractual necessity

Inferences about your account - such as interests, age, and gender - which we use to provide features including:

You can always review and modify these inferences by visiting Your Twitter data.

Information you share with us, including:

Additional information we receive about you, including:

Legitimate interests

Advertising we show you on Twitter based on data you provide or we collect on Twitter

Advertising we show you on other websites or mobile applications based only on information collected there

Information you share with us, including:

Additional information we receive about you, including:

Inferences about you, as described above, based on this data.

Legitimate interests

Personalized advertising: advertising we show you on and off Twitter based on information we collect from you on Twitter, your other activity online, and data from our partners

Information you share with us, including:

Additional information we receive about you, including:

Inferences about you, as described above, based on this data.

Consent

Personalizing our services across your devices

Information you share with us, including:

Additional information we receive about you, including:

Consent

Personalizing our services based on the places you've been

Additional information we receive about you, including:

Inferences about you, as described above, based on this data.

Consent

Complying with legal requests

As required by applicable law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request.

Legal obligation

Sharing your data with select Twitter business partners

Information you share with us, including:

Additional information we receive about you, including:

Information we process with your consent, including:

Inferences about you, as described above, based on this data.

Consent

Sharing data with third-party web clients or applications you've authorized

Information you share with us, dependent on the permissions requested by the application or web client, including:

Consent

Sharing data with our service providers

Information you share with us, including:

Additional information we receive about you, including:

Inferences about you, as described above, based on this data.

Determined by the legal bases set forth in this table (contractual necessity, legitimate interests, consent, or legal obligation) for the processing activities for which the service provider is retained.

Enabling others to find your account by your email address or phone number

Information you share with us, including:

Additional information we receive about you, including:

Information we process with your consent, including:

Consent

Non-service related notifications about your Twitter activity, related content, Direct Messages, and other Twitter product features

Information you share with us, including:

Additional information we receive about you, including:

Inferences about you, as described above, based on this data.

Legitimate interests

Non-service related notifications about our Twitter business products and third-party services

Information you share with us, including:

Additional information we receive about you, including:

Consent

The processing activities described above:

  • Operating our services
  • Safety and security
  • Inferences
  • Personalized advertising
  • Sharing data with our service providers

Information we process with your consent, including:

Inferences about you, as described above, based on this data.

Consent

The processing activities described above:

  • Advertising we show you on Twitter based on data you provide or we collect on Twitter
  • Advertising we show you on other websites or mobile applications based only on information collected there
  • Personalizing our services across your devices
  • Personalizing our services based on the places you’ve been
  • Non-service related notifications about your Twitter activity, related content, Direct Messages, and other Twitter product features

Information we process with your consent, including:

Inferences about you, as described above, based on this data.

Consent

Additional personalization of our services based on where you see Twitter content across the web

Additionally, the processing activities described above:

Information you share with us, including:

  • Account controls

Information we process with your consent, including:

Inferences about you, as described above, based on this data.

Consent

* We do not collect Twitter for Web data from browsers that we believe to be located in the European Union or EFTA States.

We set and use cookies as described in our Cookies Use, and with your consent as provided for under Directive 95/46/EC.

Legitimate interests analysis summary - inferences about your account

Twitter uses information that individuals provide and data that it receives (as described in Twitter’s privacy policy) to make inferences about the people who use Twitter and content on the platform. This includes inferences like what topics people may be interested in, how old a person is, what languages a person speaks, and whether the content of one account may be of interest to others on the platform. This helps Twitter offer better services and personalize the content Twitter shows, including ads.

Without these inferences, people would have a harder time finding content that interested them, Twitter would have a more difficult time keeping the platform safe and enjoyable for everyone, and Twitter’s advertising would be less compelling to those who saw it and less valuable to Twitter’s business customers.

To safeguard the rights of those that use our services, if an individual wishes to review and modify information that Twitter has inferred about him or her, that individual may do so by using Your Twitter data. This service is available both to individuals with a Twitter account and those who do not have an account or are logged out of Twitter. 

Legitimate interests analysis summary - advertising we show you on Twitter based on data you provide or we collect on Twitter, or on other websites or mobile apps based on information collected there

Twitter uses information that individuals provide and data that it receives during the individual’s use of Twitter (as described in Twitter’s Privacy Policy) to improve the quality of the ads the individual sees on the platform.  When Twitter shows ads in other apps or websites, Twitter uses information from that app or website to improve the quality of the ads the user sees.

This enables Twitter to give individuals a better product experience that is more in line with their interests and the content they find most meaningful and relevant to them, and to provide more valuable advertising offerings that generate revenue to support and improve its services.  Without this processing, Twitter’s advertising would be less compelling to those who saw it and less valuable to Twitter’s business customers.

To safeguard the rights of those that use our services, Twitter offers individuals a variety of controls over the ads they see on Twitter.  Individuals may block or mute specific advertisers if they do not wish to see ads from those advertisers, report bad or offensive ads, and flag ads that they do not like.  In addition, every ad on Twitter provides a dropdown “Why am I seeing this ad?” option to let the individual see the basis on which the ad was shown to him or her, such as inferred age, gender, and interests.  The individual may then modify that information in Your Twitter data to affect future ads that he or she sees. This service is available both to individuals with a Twitter account and those who do not have an account or are logged out of Twitter.

Legitimate interests analysis summary - non-service related notifications about your Twitter activity, related content, Direct Messages, and other Twitter product features 

Twitter uses information that individuals provide and data that it receives (as described in Twitter’s privacy policy) to send non-service related notifications to registered users about their Twitter activity, related content, Direct Messages, and other Twitter product features.  This enables Twitter to provide information that individuals may find valuable or useful, such as Tweets or Direct Messages directed to the individual, analytics about content the individual authored, and new product features.

Without these notifications, people would have a harder time learning of content relevant to them on Twitter, would receive less feedback about their content on Twitter, and would potentially miss out on conversations with others on Twitter.

To safeguard the rights of those that use our services, each non-service related email notification contains an opt out link that enables the individual to disable any or all such notifications.  An individual can similarly update his or her preferences at any time while logged into Twitter.com or our mobile apps.  For users in the European Union and EFTA States, control is also provided during the registration process in which the individual’s email address is first collected.

 

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