2020 Report

Compelled Disclosure

In 2020, Shopify received a total of 543 requests. We objected to 326 (60% of these requests). We could notify data subjects in 40% of the cases where we produced.

This report includes data from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020.

Our Guiding Principles

Shopify is committed to protecting the privacy of our merchants, customers, partners, and everyone who entrusts us with their personal information. We believe that merchants own their personal information and the personal information of their customers. We are publishing this Transparency Report to:

  • Make commerce better for everyone by building consumer confidence through transparency, as recommended by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

  • Support an informed public debate on privacy rights by joining other members of our industry in reporting on government and other legal requests for access to data.

  • Comply with the spirit of and the principles underlying PIPEDA (the Canadian federal private sector privacy law), the GDPR (the European Union’s data protection regulation), and the CCPA (the California Consumer Privacy Act).

Our Process

To protect the privacy of our merchants, customers, and partners, we follow the below process upon receipt of a request to produce information about a merchant, a merchant’s customer, or a partner:

  • We will refuse to disclose personal information without a subpoena or court order issued by a body that has jurisdiction over Shopify.

  • Legal requests must be addressed to the correct Shopify entity (such as Shopify Inc. or Shopify International Limited).

  • We will always notify affected individuals before we disclose information, unless prohibited by law, and minimize the amount of personal information that we disclose.

We review the following factors to ensure that each order is legally and procedurally valid, broken down by heading below:

  • Jurisdiction and authority of requester

  • Type of legal request

  • Shopify entity and type of information requested

  • In 2020, we received legal requests for information from twenty countries.

    As outlined in our Guidelines on Legal Requests for Information, we will only respond to enforceable subpoenas or court orders issued by: (a) bodies that have jurisdiction over the specific Shopify entity from which information is being requested; and (b) the authority to compel the production of information.

    If the requesting body does not have jurisdiction over the relevant Shopify entity, we require that they follow the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty or Hague Evidence Convention (“Letters Rogatory”) processes.

    Information Requests by CountryRequests Received
    Australia5
    Austria1
    Belgium1
    Brazil2
    Canada17
    Denmark2
    England3
    France228
    Germany45
    Hong Kong SAR3
    India3
    Ireland1
    Italy9
    Mexico1
    Singapore6
    South Korea1
    Spain46
    Switzerland4
    UK8
    USA158
  • In 2020, we received different types of legal requests for information, including Grand Jury Subpoenas, Summons, Preservation Orders, Information Subpoenas, and Certifications of Trustee in Bankruptcy. We did not receive any national security letters, FISA orders, or other classified requests in 2020.

    Type of Data RequestNumber received
    Civil Investigative Demand5
    Consent Order1
    Demand to Furnish Information1
    Grand Jury Subpoena53
    Informal Request2
    Information Subpoena4
    Judicial Request5
    Law Enforcement303
    Preservation Order32
    Request For Information1
    Search Warrant6
    Summons6
    Temporary Restraining Order (TRO)2
    Other1

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