Integrate Google Fonts locally in WordPress in compliance with GDPR
Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2025 5:43 am
Integrating Google Fonts into WordPress can be critical for various reasons: data protection and GDPR compliance, performance and loading times, dependence on Google and security. Our partner agency fivecode specializes in WordPress websites and WooCommerce shops and has already gained experience in several hundred projects for well-known companies on such issues.
Yannic, how often do you encounter the topic of Google Fonts in your daily agency work and what efficient solutions do you use to avoid this problem?
The topic of font integration and the problem with Google Fonts is something we encounter in almost every project. I'd be happy to tell you how companies can find out whether Google Fonts are running on their WordPress website and how they can deactivate them. I'd also be happy to give you an insight into how we upload Google Fonts or our own fonts locally to the server in our projects. This way, our customers protect the privacy of their users and avoid potentially costly GDPR problems.
We do not offer legal advice in this article. If you have any legal questions, please contact specialized lawyers. The suggested measures are based on our current knowledge and are intended to help WordPress admins create GDPR-compliant websites. However, we cannot guarantee that the measures presented will ensure 100% data protection compliance, as technical developments and the legal situation can change. If necessary, use a professional agency to implement them.
What are Google Fonts anyway – and why are they often discussed?
Google Fonts is a free service from Google that provides an extensive library bc data philippines of fonts for websites and online shops. Due to the easy integration, they are often used by developers and web designers. The service saves us from having to upload our own fonts and ensures that fonts that are not installed by default on visitors' computers, smartphones and other devices can also be used.
However, Google Fonts are a legally critical issue because their integration raises data protection issues: After all, when the fonts are loaded, data is transferred to Google servers, which potentially violates the GDPR if user consent is not obtained.
Why are Google Fonts problematic in relation to the EU GDPR?
data protection regulations in the USA
Google Fonts can be problematic in relation to the EU GDPR because they transmit data to Google servers located outside the European Union every time a website is used. The problem: The operators of these servers in the United States follow different data protection regulations than we do within the EU.
Although the request on a website is only intended to load the respective font, personal data such as the IP address can also be transferred to the foreign servers, which violates the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) without the express consent of the visitors. In January 2022, the Munich Regional Court ruled that the integration of Google Fonts without the consent of the users constitutes a violation of the GDPR (source: datenschutzticker.de ).
Invalid EU-US Privacy Shield
The EU-US Privacy Shield was an agreement designed to regulate data exchange between the EU and the US by ensuring an adequate level of protection for the data transmitted. However, the Privacy Shield was declared invalid by the European Court of Justice in 2020 because it could not sufficiently guarantee the protection of personal data, in particular because of access by US authorities. It is therefore now even more important to take measures to integrate Google Fonts locally in order to ensure GDPR compliance (Sources: European Commission and Datenschutz.org ).
Yannic, how often do you encounter the topic of Google Fonts in your daily agency work and what efficient solutions do you use to avoid this problem?
The topic of font integration and the problem with Google Fonts is something we encounter in almost every project. I'd be happy to tell you how companies can find out whether Google Fonts are running on their WordPress website and how they can deactivate them. I'd also be happy to give you an insight into how we upload Google Fonts or our own fonts locally to the server in our projects. This way, our customers protect the privacy of their users and avoid potentially costly GDPR problems.
We do not offer legal advice in this article. If you have any legal questions, please contact specialized lawyers. The suggested measures are based on our current knowledge and are intended to help WordPress admins create GDPR-compliant websites. However, we cannot guarantee that the measures presented will ensure 100% data protection compliance, as technical developments and the legal situation can change. If necessary, use a professional agency to implement them.
What are Google Fonts anyway – and why are they often discussed?
Google Fonts is a free service from Google that provides an extensive library bc data philippines of fonts for websites and online shops. Due to the easy integration, they are often used by developers and web designers. The service saves us from having to upload our own fonts and ensures that fonts that are not installed by default on visitors' computers, smartphones and other devices can also be used.
However, Google Fonts are a legally critical issue because their integration raises data protection issues: After all, when the fonts are loaded, data is transferred to Google servers, which potentially violates the GDPR if user consent is not obtained.
Why are Google Fonts problematic in relation to the EU GDPR?
data protection regulations in the USA
Google Fonts can be problematic in relation to the EU GDPR because they transmit data to Google servers located outside the European Union every time a website is used. The problem: The operators of these servers in the United States follow different data protection regulations than we do within the EU.
Although the request on a website is only intended to load the respective font, personal data such as the IP address can also be transferred to the foreign servers, which violates the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) without the express consent of the visitors. In January 2022, the Munich Regional Court ruled that the integration of Google Fonts without the consent of the users constitutes a violation of the GDPR (source: datenschutzticker.de ).
Invalid EU-US Privacy Shield
The EU-US Privacy Shield was an agreement designed to regulate data exchange between the EU and the US by ensuring an adequate level of protection for the data transmitted. However, the Privacy Shield was declared invalid by the European Court of Justice in 2020 because it could not sufficiently guarantee the protection of personal data, in particular because of access by US authorities. It is therefore now even more important to take measures to integrate Google Fonts locally in order to ensure GDPR compliance (Sources: European Commission and Datenschutz.org ).