URL shorteners
Bitly privacy rating
Link management platform for creating short links, QR codes and landing pages, with click analytics and branded domains.
Summary
Bitly scores 31 out of 100 (grade F) on the URL shorteners criteria. It meets 2 of 8 criteria: transparency report and TLS configuration. It partly meets independent audit. It does not meet open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, 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 F.
Score 31 out of 100. How scoring works
Criteria
- No
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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 website loads Google Tag Manager and Optimizely, and the privacy policy describes tracking pixels and third-party analytics providers.
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No
No ads or data sales Weight 2 of 3
Is the product funded without advertising, ad targeting or selling user data?
Link destination previews may include third-party advertising, and mobile advertising identifiers are collected.
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Partial
Independent audit Weight 2 of 3
Has an independent security or privacy audit been published within the last three years?
Bitly states it is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant, but the report is not public.
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Yes
Transparency report Weight 2 of 3
Does the provider regularly publish how many government and legal requests it receives and how it responds?
Publishes a yearly report with counts of court orders, subpoenas and foreign government requests and how many were answered.
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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
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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+
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No
Security headers Weight 1 of 3
Does the website pass the Mozilla HTTP Observatory test with a grade of A or better?
Grade F (20/100+)
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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.