Podcast GDPR can get very tricky to understand at times. However, it is not something you can simply overlook or ignore! Today, we will shed light on every nitty-gritty detail about the podcast GDPR and everything you should know about the new privacy policy of your podcast. Let’s get started.
What Is GDPR?
Back on May 25th, 2018, the GDPR came into existence in the EU. The term stands for General Data Protection Regulation. It is simply a privacy and security law to govern the data collected via your podcast. It imposes certain restrictions and limitations on organizations that collect data from their consumers.
As per the GDPR, you have to provide information to your consumers or listeners about all the data that you are collecting from them in a concise, transparent, intelligible, and easily accessible format.
Your podcast privacy policy is the main thing you should focus on here since it should contain all the instructions as per the GDPR, which we will also discuss further in this blog.
Why Does GDPR Exist?
The GDPR exists to protect the consumers’ rights as to how their information is being collected, stored, and used by the concerned organization. With the ongoing hike in data breaches and other cyber threats, the GDPR is a law that protects the consumer’s data lawfully. It is a significant measure to prevent any data leaks or misuse of data collected from organizations for any possible purpose.
Why Should Podcasters Care About GDPR?
GDPR offers certain rights to its consumers when it comes to their data. If your podcast does not comply with the rules and regulations of the GDPR to protect the rights of consumers, you can be fined up to 20 million euros or 4% of the entire organization’s annual revenue. Hence, your podcast will be at stake if you do not adhere to the regulations of GDPR and take the necessary measures to protect the data collected and used by the consumers.
How Does GDPR Apply To My Podcast?
Most podcasters might wonder why they should comply with the GDPR if they do not belong to the EU.
Podcasting is globally popular, and there could be chances that a citizen from the EU may tune into your podcast while revealing their information to you. Hence, complying with the GDPR is vital to every podcaster.
If you have a website and have some source of information to collect from your listeners, you are entitled to follow the GDPR guidelines in your privacy policy.
How Does Your Media Host Help You To Adhere To GDPR?
Suppose you use media hosts like Lubsyn, Blueberry, etc. In that case, you need not worry about the hassle of complying with the GDPR since all of these media hosts have their separate GDPR team with a blanket policy that ensures that all the podcasts hosted from their platforms strictly adhere to the GDPR. Therefore, as a podcaster, you are definitely at an advantage here since your media host has your back concerning the GDPR.
On the contrary, you have to deal with the entire GDPR yourself if you have a website for hosting a podcast, which is common nowadays among podcasters.
How Does GDPR Impact Podcast Listeners, Opt-Ins, And Guests?
If you have your website, with opt-in forms, lead magnets, or other spaces wherein your listeners give you their name, email address, and other such personal details, you need to ensure that all of it is strictly GDPR compliant. Here’s how it impacts listeners, opt-ins, and guests of your podcast:
- Your listeners will have their data collected, and you need to make them aware of the entire data collection process.
- Your listeners should be aware of where all the data that is collected will be stored.
- You need to manage the collected data rightfully and inform the consumers about how you will use the collected data.
- Your listeners can get their data and information erased from your database if requested.
- Your listeners will be aware that their data and information are shared with any brother or sister company. For example, multiple companies are under a single organization.
What Should Your New Privacy Policy Include?
As we said, if you have a website for hosting your podcasts, you need to create a privacy policy while adhering to the GDPR. Again, every piece of information as per the GDPR should be concise, transparent, intelligible, and easily accessible to consumers. It should be written in completely clear and plain language for the consumers. Also, it should be completely free of charge.
Questions To Consider While Writing Your Privacy Policy
Here are the questions you should consider while creating a privacy policy for your podcasts.
What Information Is Being Collected?
List out all the information that is being collected in your podcast in any form.
Who Is Collecting It?
Mention the due hosts of the podcast or the company associated with the podcast whosoever has relevance to these data and information.
How Is It Collected?
List out every mode of data collection, such as opt-in forms, email newsletters, etc., which is responsible for collecting the data of your listeners.
Why Is It Being Collected?
List out the potential reasons why the data will benefit your organization without hampering the privacy of the concerned consumer/listeners.
How Will It Be Used?
Be it for email marketing or bringing in more leads. List out all the potential ways the company or the host uses the collected data and information of the consumers/listeners.
Who Will It Be Shared With?
Mention all the information about any brother or sister company to the organization which has equal or even partial access to the collected data of the consumers/listeners.
You must also mention any third-party websites or companies you share the data with.
What Will Be The Effect Of This On The Individuals Concerned?
With such strict regulations of the GDPR, podcast listeners and consumers can remain stress-free with the personal data they share with your podcast. This would result in minimal to zero risks of data theft or mismanagement since the concerned company or podcast will be held liable for the damage and can be fined during such instances.
If you have a podcast that complies with the GDPR laws, your listeners will trust you with their data with no hassle.
Is The Intended Use Likely To Cause Individuals To Object Or Complaint?
There could be chances even after creating your privacy policy with the GDPR and maintaining complete transparency of the data that is being collected; certain individuals may not agree to it willfully for any possible reasons.
In such cases, they can choose to opt-out and get their data erased forever from the company database upon request to the company.
How Can I Set Up My GDPR Privacy Policy?
If you are entirely new to the GDPR, it is best to rely on the professionals such as an automatic Privacy Policy Generator to create your privacy policy. Such automatic Privacy Policy Generators ensure that every required step is covered in your privacy policy as per the GDPR while saving your time and efforts to create one all by yourself.
Tools
Here are some excellent automatic Privacy Policy Generators you can try out.
iubenda
Iubenda is an incredible platform that can help you create different types of policies for your website and podcast, such as privacy policy, cookie policy, etc., including every third-party service associated with the website or podcast such as Google Analytics, MailChimp, etc.
With Iubenda, you can also create your policies in 10 different languages for the convenience of the consumers.
Terms Feed
Terms Feed is another popular privacy policy generator that can help you create your legal agreements as well as your GDPR privacy policies. Some of the services they offer include Return and Refund Policy, Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy, EUCLA, and many more.
You can get your policies and agreements customized as per the needs of the concerned websites or podcasts and readily available online for your consumers.
Best Practices For Podcasters Relating To GDPR
While complying with GDPR may sound complex, a few healthy practices can help you comply with the GDPR with no significant hassle.
7 Steps To Address GDPR For Podcast And A Project Website
Here is the step-by-step process that can help make the entire process of GDPR compliance significantly easy for your podcast website or podcast.
Accept You Are Going To Have To Deal With GDPR, And It’s Going To Take Some Time
While the GDPR thing may come like a clap of thunder to you since you were probably not aware of it for so long, you need to new gear up and get all the measures started that you would require to create a GDPR-compliant Privacy Policy for your podcast.
Additionally, the entire process may take at least days or months to make your podcast GDPR-compliant. Hence, you need to stay patient throughout the process since, by the end, it is for the safety of your loyal listeners.
Learn Enough To Know About GDPR To Understand It, But Not Go Crazy
While the entire concept of GDPR is highly complex and subjective, you definitely should do your research while creating your privacy policy to ensure that you do not miss out on any crucial points.
However, things may seem intimidating if you go overboard with all the information available on the internet about GDPR. Stick to your relevance, and create a concise GDPR privacy policy as per the regulations listed on the official website.
Figure Out How GDPR Is Going To Impact The Different Aspects Of Your Project
While your podcast gets GDPR compliant, a few regular processes might change, such as the process of collecting the data, storing it, and using it to comply with the regulations.
This may impact certain aspects of your podcast, which you are best to figure out before you even start the entire process of creating your privacy policy. Being completely aware of the changes before will help eliminate any risks or potential issues in the future with your podcasts.
Look At Your Behind The Scene Processes(The Backend) To See What Might Be Impacted By GDPR
As we said, it is always great to have all the relevant information about everything related to your podcasts and the GDPR. This also includes the backend process that can help you understand why you are liable to the GDPR law and how it ensures consumers’ privacy in the right way.
Examine The Different Components Of Your Website For GDPR
If you host your podcasts via WordPress, you may have certain WordPress plugins built into your website to add to the website’s functionality. You must check all the plugins to ensure that none of them collect your listener information in any other way that you may not be aware of. This will help eliminate any potential risks to your podcasts.
Consider GDPR Issues As They Relate To A Podcast
Consider GDPR as a way of conveying knowledge to your audience about the information collected, stored, and used by your company or podcast.
As you converse very lucidly with your audience, ensure to maintain the same transparency while creating your GDPR Privacy Policy.
FAQs
Which Groups Or Organizations Is GDPR Aimed At?
The GDPR is aimed mainly at the controller and the processor of data. The data controller typically makes all the decisions about how the collected data is being used by the organization or podcast, whereas the processor systematically processes all the collected data.
Is The Typical Podcaster Either Processing Or Controlling The Data?
Podcasters generally are the processors of data collected by the controller when it comes to hosting the media via media hosts like Blubrry, Libsyn, etc.
What Safeguards Can a Podcaster Put in Place Be in Compliance?
Media hosts or podcasters can prevent storing any personally identifiable information. Instead, they can use a pseudo anonymization process wherein the IP addresses are randomly changed to avoid identifying the original IP address in the lot yet use the stored information for their purpose.
Does A Podcaster Need To Make A Final Statement Of Some Sort To Their Audience?
It depends on whether you are concerned with the collection of data as the controller. If you are the data controller for your podcast, you may have to make some statements about the data collection on your website as per the GDPR.
Conclusion
The GDPR is an essential law that your podcast should comply with for safe and sound working with your podcast listeners. It is solely dedicated to protecting your listeners’ data and information that you collect for your purposes such as advertising, marketing, etc. You should be very transparent with all the details of the process of collection, storage, and usage of every data. You should also mention any third-party sources that have access to the data and ensure that all of them adhere to the GDPR.
