2024 Report

Compelled Disclosure

In 2024, Shopify’s Regulatory Affairs team received a total of 4,005 legal access submissions. 3,574 of these requests were properly formed legal requests, of which 1,451 were compelled disclosure requests. We objected to 808 of the 1,451 compelled disclosure requests (55 percent).

This report includes data from January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024.

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 are publishing this Transparency Report to make commerce better for everyone by building consumer confidence through transparency, and 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.

Our Process

To protect the privacy of our merchants, customers, and partners, we endeavor to minimize the amount of personal information we disclose. Our process upon receipt of a request to produce information about a merchant, a merchant’s customer, or a partner is as follows:

  • We will refuse to disclose personal information without a valid and enforceable subpoena or court order.

  • Legal requests must be addressed to the correct Shopify entity (for example, 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 in determining whether we will comply with a legal request:

  • Jurisdiction and authority of requester

  • Type of legal request

  • Shopify entity and type of information requested

  • In 2024, we received legal requests for information from 28 countries.

    CountryCount
    France478
    United States of America459
    Germany189
    Spain62
    Canada52
    Brazil39
    Australia31
    Italy26
    United Kingdom17
    India15
    Argentina14
    Switzerland10
    Japan9
    Belgium9
    Ireland7
    Austria6
    Singapore6
    Romania5
    Bulgaria4
    Portugal2
    Netherlands2
    Denmark2
    Latvia2
    Czechia2
    Turkey1
    Indonesia1
    Estonia1
  • In 2024, we received different types of legal requests, including Grand Jury Subpoenas, Search Warrants, Preservation Orders, and Summons.

    Order typeCount
    Takedown request1194
    Administrative request530
    Law enforcement request380
    Subpoena172
    Court order122
    Consumer complaint112
    Grand Jury Subpoena96
    Temporary Restraining Order76
    General inquiry74
    Preservation request35
    Search Warrant33
    Summons16
    Request for merchant funds10
    Injunction9
    Request improperly routed226
    Other125

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