Revisions to the LINE Corporation Privacy Policy

We've made changes to the LINE Privacy Policy that went into effect on March 15, 2022. These changes are required to use LINE Corporation's many services going forward. We made these changes to ensure that user privacy is taken into account when working with our partners.

All users must agree to the revised Privacy Policy to continue using LINE.

Once the updated Privacy Policy is released, you'll be able to read it and agree in the LINE app.

The major changes to the LINE Privacy Policy are as follows.

These revisions to our Privacy Policy were made to clarify how we acquire and use the information from our partners in light of amendments to the Japanese Act on the Protection of Personal Information, scheduled to go into effect in April 2022, and to ensure that all our users understand the policy.

Even after the revision of the Privacy Policy, we will never provide our users' personal information to any partner without the consent of the users or as permitted by applicable law.

Furthermore, we will continue to protect the privacy of messages and calls as we always have.

We'll outline the revised content with specific examples below.

We ask that you read the following explanation so that you can fully understand the updated Privacy Policy and continue to use LINE with peace of mind.

1. How we acquire and use information for sending messages and advertisements from our partners

Example scenario
In order to deliver messages and ads to LINE users that are interested in Partner Company A's products, Company A may deliver messages from its official account or serve ads in LINE apps only to users who have a history of purchasing the company's products.
Benefits for LINE users
Messages sent from the LINE official account and advertisements shown in LINE services will be better matched to each user's interests, creating a more enjoyable experience.
How we handle information
  • Company A provides us with a list of customers* who have a history of product purchases.
  • We select the LINE users from the list provided by Company A.
  • Company A can now serve ads or send messages from their LINE official account to the selected users.
*These lists can include user identifiers (internal identifiers, advertisement identifiers, etc.), one-way encrypted (hashed) information such as email addresses and phone numbers, IP addresses, and limited device information (OS, etc.).
For the country / region where the official account or third-party apps operator is located, the official account is displayed in the footer, and the linked apps are displayed under the app name.For the country / region where the official account or third-party apps operator is located, the official account is displayed in the footer, and the linked apps are displayed under the app name.
- For more information on how to stop LINE official accounts from sending you messages or showing ads based on third-party customer data, please refer to Demographic-Based Service Optimization.

2. How we collect and share statistics with partners

Example scenario
In order to measure the effectiveness of the marketing methods implemented by Partner Company A through LINE, we will temporarily receive Company A's product purchase history, analyze it, and compare it with our own information on ad views and user attributes (age, gender, interests, etc.). We then provide the results of the analysis to Partner Company A.
Benefits for LINE users
By using the results of this analysis to improve the content of ads on LINE services and of messages sent from LINE official accounts, we'll be able to ensure that messages from LINE official accounts and advertisements displayed on each LINE service will be better matched to each user's interests, creating a more enjoyable experience.
How we handle information
  • Company A provides us with a modified list of customers* who have a history of product purchases.
  • We select the LINE users from the list provided by Company A.
  • We conduct analysis to determine, for example, whether a given user viewed or clicked on Company A's advertisement.
  • The results of the analysis are processed into statistical information which we provide to Company A.
*These lists can include user identifiers (internal identifiers, advertisement identifiers, etc.), one-way encrypted (hashed) information such as email addresses and phone numbers, demographic details, and consumer history which may include purchase or viewing history.
For the country / region where the official account or third-party apps operator is located, the official account is displayed in the footer, and the linked apps are displayed under the app name.For the country / region where the official account or third-party apps operator is located, the official account is displayed in the footer, and the linked apps are displayed under the app name.
When analyzing and creating statistical information, we combine several security measures as necessary in order to protect user information. For example:
  • Information concerning consumer history, such as product purchase history or TV viewing history, will be received with product and program names converted to meaningless IDs, and product and program names will not be identified as part of our analysis.
  • Identifiers used in the process of selecting LINE users will be received with one-way encryption (hashed) if necessary, and customer information that doesn't belong to LINE users will be deleted immediately.
  • After LINE user information has been identified, the information will be deleted after a fixed period of time, and we will not provide this information to any other third parties.
  • Statistical reports will be shared with partners only if the sample size is large enough to make it difficult to identify individual users from a single data point.
*The information we use for our analysis never includes messages sent and received between users.

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