Is Spotify embed GDPR compliant?

What does Spotify embed do?

An embedded player for tracks and podcasts. Like every media embed it runs third-party code in your page and identifies the listener before any interaction takes place.

Does Spotify embed need consent?

Yes. Spotify embed is Embedded media, which is never strictly necessary for a website to function. Under ePrivacy Article 5(3), and its national transpositions, storing or reading anything on the device for that purpose requires consent first, and that consent has to be as easy to refuse as it is to give.

ePrivacy Art. 5(3) · TDDDG § 25 (DE) · TKG 2021 § 165(3) (AT) · GDPR Art. 6(1)(a)

Does Spotify embed send data outside the EEA?

Yes. Spotify embed processes data outside the European Economic Area, so you need a transfer mechanism under Chapter V and you have to say so in your privacy policy. In practice this means standard contractual clauses, or a provider certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.

GDPR Art. 44 · GDPR Art. 46

How do we detect Spotify embed?

We load your page in a real browser as a first-time visitor who clicks nothing, then look at what it contacted. Spotify embed is recognised by requests to open.spotify.com and spotifycdn.com, and we report whether it merely loaded or actually sent data, and whether it set a cookie before any choice was made.