In the United States and other jurisdictions in which we operate, we are subject to various consumer protection laws and related regulations. If we are found to have breached any consumer protection laws or regulations in any such jurisdiction, we may be subject to enforcement actions that require us to change our business practices in a manner which may negatively impact our revenues, as well as expose us to litigation, fines, civil and/or criminal penalties and adverse publicity that could cause our customers to lose trust in us, negatively impacting our reputation and business in a manner that harms our financial position.
As part of our business and on behalf of our customers, we collect information about individuals, also referred to as personal data, and other potentially sensitive and/or regulated data. Laws and regulations in the United States and around the world restrict how personal data is collected, processed, stored, used and disclosed, as well as set standards for its security, implement notice requirements regarding privacy practices, and provide individuals with certain rights regarding the use, disclosure and sale of their protected personal data.
In the United States, both the federal and various state governments have adopted or are considering, laws, guidelines or rules for the collection, distribution, use and storage of information collected from or about consumers or their devices. For example, California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act (the "CCPA"), which came into force in 2020. The CCPA creates individual privacy rights for California residents and increases the privacy and security obligations of businesses handling personal data. The CCPA is enforceable by the California Attorney General and there is also a private right of action relating to certain data security incidents.
Additionally, the California Privacy Rights Act (the "CPRA") which was approved on November 3, 2020 imposes additional data protection obligations on companies doing business in California, including additional consumer rights processes and opt outs for certain uses of sensitive data. Further, on March 2, 2021, Virginia enacted the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act ("CDPA"), a comprehensive privacy statute that shares similarities with the CCPA, CPRA, and legislation proposed in other states. Similar laws have been proposed in other states and at the federal level, reflecting a trend toward more stringent privacy legislation in the United States. If we become subject to laws, guidelines or rules such as the CCPA, CRPA or CDPA, we may be required to modify our data collection or processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses in an effort to comply and increase our potential exposure to regulatory enforcement and/or litigation.
Several foreign jurisdictions, including the EU and the European Economic Area ("EEA"), have laws and regulations which are more restrictive in certain respects than those in the United States. For example, in the EU we are subject to the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (the "GDPR") in relation to our collection, control, processing, sharing, disclosure and other use of data relating to an identifiable living individual (personal data). The GDPR, and national implementing legislation in EEA Member States, impose a strict data protection compliance regime including: providing detailed disclosures about how personal data is collected and processed (in a concise, intelligible and easily accessible form); granting new rights for data subjects in regard to their personal data (including the right to be "forgotten" and the right to data portability), as well as enhancing current rights (e.g., data subject access requests); requirements to have data processing agreements in place to govern the processing of personal data on behalf of other organizations; introducing the obligation to notify data protection regulators or supervisory authorities (and in certain cases, affected individuals) of significant data breaches; maintaining a record of data processing; and complying with the principal of accountability and the obligation to demonstrate compliance through policies, procedures, training and audit.
We are also subject to EU rules with respect to cross-border transfers of personal data out of the EEA. Recent legal developments in Europe have created complexity and uncertainty regarding transfers of personal data from the EEA to the United States. Most recently, on July 16, 2020, the Court of Justice of the EU (the "CJEU") invalidated the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework (the "Privacy Shield") under which personal data could be transferred from the EEA to U.S. entities who had self-certified under the Privacy Shield scheme. While the CJEU upheld the adequacy of the standard contractual clauses (a standard form of contract approved by the European Commission as an adequate personal data transfer mechanism, and potential alternative to the Privacy Shield), it made clear that reliance on these clauses alone may not necessarily be sufficient in all circumstances. Use of the standard contractual clauses must now be assessed on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the legal regime applicable in the destination country, in particular applicable surveillance laws and rights of individuals and additional measures and/or contractual provisions may need to be put in place, however, the nature of these additional measures is currently uncertain. The CJEU went on to state that if a competent supervisory authority believes that the standard contractual clauses cannot be complied with in the destination country and the required level of protection cannot be secured by other means, such supervisory authority is under an obligation to suspend or prohibit that transfer.
We have relied and currently rely on standard contractual clauses to transfer personal data outside the EU, including to the U.S. among other data transfer mechanisms pursuant to the GDPR, such as transfer to jurisdictions recognized by the European Commission as providing sufficient safeguards for the processing of personal data (adequacy decision).
We have previously relied on our relevant providers for the purposes of transferring personal data from the EU to the U.S. in compliance with the GDPR's data export conditions.
These recent developments may require us to review and amend the legal mechanisms by which we make and/or receive personal data transfers to/in the U.S. As supervisory authorities issue further guidance on personal data export mechanisms, including circumstances where the standard contractual clauses cannot be used, and/or start taking enforcement action, we could suffer additional costs, complaints and/or regulatory investigations or fines, and/or if we are otherwise unable to transfer personal data between and among countries and regions in which we operate, it could affect the manner in which we provide our services, the geographical location or segregation of our relevant systems and operations, and could adversely affect our financial results.
We depend on a number of third parties in relation to the operation of our business, a number of which process personal data on our behalf. With each such provider we attempt to mitigate the associated risks of using third parties by performing security assessments and detailed due diligence, entering into contractual arrangements to ensure that providers only process personal data according to our instructions, and that they have sufficient technical and organizational security measures in place. Where we transfer personal data outside the EU or the United Kingdom to such third parties, we do so in compliance with the relevant data export requirements, as described above. There is no assurance that these contractual measures and our own privacy and security-related safeguards will protect us from the risks associated with the third-party processing, storage and transmission of such information. Any violation of data or security laws by our third-party processors could have a material adverse effect on our business and result in the fines and penalties outlined below.
We also act as a data processor on behalf of our customers and have data protection obligations to our customers, including in relation to notifying customers if we suffer a personal data breach, assisting customers with data subject rights requests in relation to the personal data we process, requirements for the use of sub-processors and restrictions on transferring personal data outside of the EU.
We are subject to the supervision of local data protection authorities in those EU jurisdictions where we are established or otherwise subject to the GDPR. Fines for certain breaches of the GDPR are significant, such as an amount equal to the greater of €20 million or 4% of total global annual turnover. In addition to the foregoing, a breach of the GDPR could result in regulatory investigations, reputational damage, orders to cease/ change our processing of our data, enforcement notices, and/or assessment notices (for a compulsory audit). We may also face civil claims including representative actions and other class action type litigation (where individuals have suffered harm), potentially amounting to significant compensation or damages liabilities, as well as associated costs, diversion of internal resources, and reputational harm.
We are also subject to evolving EU privacy laws on cookies and e-marketing. In the EU, regulators are increasingly focusing on compliance with requirements in the online behavioral advertising ecosystem, and current national laws that implement the ePrivacy Directive will be replaced by an EU regulation known as the ePrivacy Regulation which will significantly increase fines for non-compliance. In the EU, informed consent is required for the placement of a cookie or similar technologies on a user's device and for direct electronic marketing. The GDPR also imposes conditions on obtaining valid consent, such as a prohibition on pre-checked consents and a requirement to ensure separate consents are sought for each type of cookie or similar technology. While the text of the ePrivacy Regulation is still under development, a recent European court decision and regulators' recent guidance are driving increased attention to cookies and tracking technologies. If regulators start to enforce the strict approach in recent guidance, this could lead to substantial costs, require significant systems changes, limit the effectiveness of our marketing activities, divert the attention of our technology personnel, adversely affect our margins, increase costs and subject us to additional liabilities. Regulation of cookies and similar technologies, and any decline of cookies or similar online tracking technologies as a means to identify and potentially target individuals, may lead to broader restrictions and impairments on our marketing and personalization activities and may negatively impact our efforts to understand users.
Restrictions on the collection, use, sharing or disclosure of personal data or additional requirements and liability for security and data integrity could require us to modify our solutions and features, possibly in a material manner, could limit our ability to develop new products and features and could subject us to increased compliance obligations and regulatory scrutiny.
These laws and regulations constantly evolve and remain subject to significant change. In addition, the application and interpretation of these laws and regulations are often uncertain. New privacy laws add additional complexity, requirements, restrictions and potential legal risk, require additional investment in resources to compliance programs, and could impact trading strategies and availability of previously useful data. Such new laws may add additional complexity, variation in requirements, restrictions and potential legal risk, require additional investment in resources to compliance programs, and could impact strategies and availability of previously useful data and could result in increased compliance costs and/or changes in business practices and policies.
We are also subject to payment card association operating rules, certification requirements and rules governing electronic funds transfers, including the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (the "PCI DSS"), a security standard applicable to companies that collect, store or transmit certain data regarding credit and debit cards, holders and transactions. Any failure to comply with the PCI DSS may violate payment card association operating rules, federal and state laws and regulations, and the terms of our contracts with payment processors and merchant banks. Such failure to comply may result in the loss of our ability to accept credit and debit card payments, subject us to fines, penalties and damages. In addition, there is no guarantee that PCI DSS compliance will prevent illegal or improper use of our payment systems or the theft, loss or misuse of data pertaining to credit and debit cards, credit and debit card holders, and credit and debit card transactions.