How Privacy Policies Have Changed Since GDPR [Infographic]

On May 25th, 2018 the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, better known as GDPR, became an enforceable law. The policy was implemented primarily to create greater transparency regarding how companies handle personal data, and to enforce stricter requirements around the use and sharing of that personal data.

While the regulation pertains to the personal data of EU citizens, the law and fines for misconduct still apply regardless of whether the person is paying for the service or whether the company has operations within the EU. The result has been a swath of privacy policy updates here in the U.S.

Since privacy policies are often overlooked — in 2014 half of internet users didn’t even know what a privacy policy was according to the Pew Research Center — added complexities from GDPR are surely making things worse, right?

We decided to look at the individual privacy policies of the top websites on the web to check word count, reading time and reading grade level before and after GDPR to determine just how easy these companies are making it for users to understand their policy changes. 


Infographic Source: blog.varonis.com