Newsletter platforms
Substack privacy rating
Publishing platform for email newsletters, podcasts and video where writers can charge for subscriptions, with a reader app, comments and a social feed called Notes.
Summary
Substack scores 25 out of 100 (grade F) on the newsletter platforms criteria. It meets 2 of 8 criteria: no ads or data sales and TLS configuration. It does not meet open source, no trackers or telemetry, independent audit, transparency report, tells users about requests and security headers. It is based in the United States: Five Eyes member; subject to the US CLOUD Act. Automated tests: SSL Labs grade A+ and Mozilla HTTP Observatory grade B-.
Score 25 out of 100. How scoring works
Criteria
- No
-
No
No trackers or telemetry Weight 3 of 3
Are the website and apps free of third-party trackers, with any analytics anonymous and any telemetry off by default?
The cookie list in the privacy policy includes third-party analytics and FullStory session tracking.
-
Yes
No ads or data sales Weight 2 of 3
Is the product funded without advertising, ad targeting or selling user data?
Funded by a share of paid subscriptions; the policy says data is not sold or shared for cross-context behavioral advertising.
-
No
Independent audit Weight 2 of 3
Has an independent security or privacy audit been published within the last three years?
No independent audit is published.
-
No
Transparency report Weight 2 of 3
Does the provider regularly publish how many government and legal requests it receives and how it responds?
No transparency report or government request policy is published.
-
No
Tells users about requests Weight 1 of 3
Does the provider promise to tell users about requests for their data, unless a court forbids it?
No published policy on notifying users about data requests.
Automated tests
-
Yes
TLS configuration Weight 2 of 3
Does the website pass the Qualys SSL Labs test with a grade of A or better?
Grade A+
-
No
Security headers Weight 1 of 3
Does the website pass the Mozilla HTTP Observatory test with a grade of A or better?
Grade B- (65/100+)
-
Not tested yet
Modern web standards Weight 1 of 3
Does the website score 90% or higher on the Internet.nl website test?
Not tested yet.