Before you read this article:
Schibsted is becoming two companies, Schibsted Media and Schibsted Marketplaces. During a transition period from June 2024 until January 2025, both companies will be responsible for your personal data under a joint controllership.
The data processing will be similar in both new companies and sometimes, they’ll be jointly referred to as Schibsted in this article.
Schibsted Media and Schibsted Marketplaces are the people behind services you already know. In Norway, these include Aftenposten and VG in Schibsted Media and FINN in Marketplaces; in Sweden, Aftonbladet and SvD in Schibsted Media and Blocket in Marketplaces; in Denmark, DBA in Marketplaces; and in Finland, Tori in Marketplaces.
You use a Schibsted account to log in to those services, and the data controllers for the data collected by those services and your Schibsted account are Schibsted Media AS for Media and Schibsted ASA for Marketplaces in Norway, Schibsted News Media AB for Media and Schibsted ASA for Marketplaces in Sweden, and Schibsted ASA for Marketplaces in both Denmark and Finland.
Why do we collect and process data?
When we at Schibsted talk about data in the context of collection, we mean information about the people who visit our sites. It’s a form of user research that helps us understand what people like and the types of advertising they respond to.
Based on the data we collect about you, we can create a data profile for you. This profile isn’t permanent; it changes based on the data that is relevant at any given time. Things like age and location may change, and what you seem to be interested in may change as well, depending on the types of content you click on or spend time reading.
We use this information to make sure the content you get is as useful as possible. We do this by looking at aggregate data, which means examining how large groups of users respond to content. This helps us get an idea of what people like you respond to, and then we can improve our products and give you content you’re more likely to enjoy.
Since many of our operating costs are funded through advertising instead of charging you fees, relevant ads are really important. By offering you interesting, relevant ads that you’re more likely to click on, we can keep giving you great experiences without having to charge for everything.
Your right to make choices for your data
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is there to make sure your personal data is collected and processed in a transparent and lawful way. Under GDPR, you have the right to make choices about how your data is being processed by companies and services.
For Schibsted services, you can make choices in both the cookie settings and the privacy settings – both accessible from any Schibsted Media or Marketplaces service. However, you usually need to log in to access the privacy settings. How long your choices are saved and how many services they apply to depends on where you make the choices and whether you’re logged into your Schibsted account.
In this table are shortcuts to the privacy tools we offer at Schibsted. These tools apply for both the Media and Marketplaces services.
| Tool and purpose | Your right | Link to the tool |
|---|---|---|
| Delete personal data from Schibsted. | The right to be forgotten. | Log into your Schibsted account > Data deletion |
| Delete data from a specific Schibsted service. | The right to be forgotten. | Log into your Schibsted account > Data deletion |
| Download and see your data. | The right to see and move your data. | Log into your Schibsted account > Data download |
| Settings for personalised content. | The right to limit data processing. | Log into your Schibsted account > Privacy settings |
| Settings for marketing. | The right to limit data processing. | Log into your Schibsted account > Privacy settings |
| Settings for personalised advertising. | The right to limit data processing. | Log into your Schibsted account > Privacy settings |
| Settings for analysis and product development. | The right to limit data processing. | Log into your Schibsted account > Privacy settings |
In addition, each service may have local privacy settings that only apply to that specific service. You’ll find these settings on the service website, often via a link in the menu or footer.
Read more about how your privacy choices may affect your experience in this article.
The kind of data we collect
Firstly, it’s important to note that we always keep your data safe and secure. We constantly review and improve our routines to comply with data privacy laws and meet your expectations. Here are some examples of the types of data we collect:
Personal information that you tell us
When you create a Schibsted account, you tell us some details about yourself like your date of birth, address, phone number and gender. Some of these details are things we need to know in order to create an account, while other information is optional.
If you don’t have a Schibsted account, your browsing activity gives us clues about the segments you might fit into
Your browsing activity
When you browse through one of our sites and click on things you find interesting, you create an activity history.
What kind of device you’re using
When we know whether you’re using a mobile, tablet or desktop browser to look at our sites, we can give you the best experience for that device.
Which city or town you’re in
If we know which city or town you’re in, we can give you offers and content that are related to businesses and events near you. We look at your approximate location, not your exact location.
More about your rights and the Schibsted privacy tools
Your right to be forgotten
Under the GDPR, you have the right to delete the information companies have about you at any time. This is also sometimes called your right to be forgotten.
Your Schibsted account may or may not be connected to multiple services within Schibsted Media and Schibsted Marketplaces respectively, depending on where you have used it to log in. We have created tools that allow you to remove an individual service and the connected data from your account, or to delete your entire account, if you want to.
If you delete your entire Schibsted account, all data connected to the services will be deleted too. This includes subscriptions, classified ads, payment history and messages. Note that for bookkeeping purposes and/or security reasons, some data may be kept by individual services.
End subscriptions and finalise any data download first
It’s important to note that when you remove a subscription service from your account, you will need to cancel any active subscriptions first. If you have any outstanding debts or payments, you’ll still be obligated to pay them. If you delete your account while you still have a data download request in progress, we won’t be able to complete the request and your data will be lost.
Depending on the data retention policy of each site, it may take some time for all your data to be completely removed. Even if you don’t request deletion, we only keep your data as long as it is necessary. You can read more about our retention times in the privacy policy.
Don’t have a Schibsted account or not logged in?
If you don’t log in or have a Schibsted account at all, you can use the tools in your browser or on your device to delete your browsing history. Keep in mind that this will affect all websites’ cookies, not only those from Schibsted.
To delete a service or the entire account, log into your Schibsted account.
Your right to see your data
Under GDPR, you have the right to know what companies know about you, including what information you have chosen to share yourself and what data they have collected through your activity. As part of this, we offer you the option to download a copy of your entire Schibsted data set.
View and download your data
If you’ve used your Schibsted account to log into different Schibsted-owned services, they are all connected to your account. We have created a tool that allows you to download data from all your Schibsted services so you’re fully aware of what we know about you.
In your Schibsted account, you can make a request to package all your Schibsted data into a single zip file that you can download and view offline. The file includes your personal information and may contain things like your browsing history, classified ads and images from online marketplaces, chat messages and so on.
To request a copy of all data stored on you, log into your Schibsted account.
Timing and file format
Depending on the number of services you have connected to your Schibsted account, this may take some time, but your download will be ready within a maximum of 30 days. We’ll send you an email when the download is ready. For security reasons, it will be available only for a short time; after that, you’ll need to make a new request if you want to download your data again.
The download will contain HTML files – these are the same kind of files that web pages are made of. Just open the “index.html” file using your web browser (such as Chrome, Safari or Firefox), and you can browse through the information the same way you would browse a website.
When you make a download request, we will need to compile your data from the various services you have connected to your account. For some long-term users, this can add up to a lot of information, but it’s important to remember that no one else has access to this combined data.
If you plan to delete your Schibsted account, or any of the connected services, you should wait until you’ve downloaded the file. If you start deleting before that, we might not be able to collect all data for your file.
Your right to take your data elsewhere
You also have the right to take your data to another provider. This is sometimes referred to as data portability. Put simply, it means that when you download your data, it needs to be in a format that is readable by both people and computers. When you download your data from Schibsted, the files you receive will be readable using any web browser, like Chrome, Firefox or Safari. In case you have a need to pass your data along to another company, it will also always be formatted and structured in a way that is readable by computers.
Your right to limit data processing
Anyone using our services can control their data. Schibsted provides you with tools you can use to make choices for the different situations when your data is used, including advertising or the content we show you.
Make choices in the cookie settings
When you visit one of our services, the first thing that’ll meet you is the Schibsted cookie pop-up. Here you can make choices for how and for which purposes we may use your activity data, or behavioural data, as it’s called technically. Briefly, this is data that you generate by using our services, scroll and click on things.
When you make choices in the cookie settings while being logged in, we may combine the behavioural data with data from your account, depending on your settings there.
Make choices in the privacy settings
For data you add yourself, or declared data, you can make choices in the privacy settings. You’ll find them in your Schibsted account, or – if you’re not logged-in or don’t have an account – via the service’s websites. However, for your choices to be saved and applied to all brands connected to your Schibsted account, you have to log in. Also, to access the settings that apply to the specific brand, you also need to have a Schibsted account and log into it.
Other rights under GDPR
We want you to know that all personal data is securely stored and never sold to others. We don’t make any automated decisions about you or any other users. If you still have questions, you can contact our privacy team through this form for queries or requests about:
- the purpose of the processing;
- the categories of personal data;
- the recipients or categories of recipients whom the personal data have been or will be shared with;
- the data storage period;
- the right of data correction.
If you want to know more about your rights under GDPR, you can read more on the local data authority website or even on the European Commission’s page about your rights as an EU citizen.
