Author

Tilman Harmeling

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12 mins

Published

Mar 25, 2025

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Data privacy trends shaping 2025 and beyond

A globe-spanning set of new data privacy regulations is already calling for integrating data privacy into business operations. In this context, the accelerating popularity of generative artificial intelligence (AI) increases this demand even more. 

As businesses collect more personal data and distribute it more widely in the course of operations that are increasingly global, corporate data is at greater risk. Businesses are recognizing with greater clarity that privacy noncompliance increases the chance of penalties and related revenue losses. 

These 12 data privacy trends can help mitigate such risks, supporting consistency in data collection, storage, and management in increasingly complex digital ecosystems.

Why data privacy trends matter in 2025 and beyond

Stricter data privacy regulations, accompanied by accelerated tech development and increasing customer demands, are shaping the data protection trends in 2025 and in years to come.

• Stricter regulations: Based on the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), over 80 percent of the global population is already covered by data privacy law.
• Accelerated tech development: Generative AI is rapidly integrating into business operations, and the corresponding EU AI Act  was adopted in 2024 and has started to be implemented in 2025.
• Growing customer expectations: According to McKinsey, 51 percent of US employees worry about cybersecurity pertaining to AI in the workplace with regards to the future of data privacy…

Facing new laws and data security challenges, business owners are realizing the value of investing in tools that mitigate financial and reputational risks.

Stricter global regulations and enforcement

Most trends in data security find their roots in the need to address the expanded scope, stricter requirements, and accelerated enforcement of privacy regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (for EU residents) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) (for US residents.)

In this regard, businesses have to walk a fine line. They recognize the need to protect user information better to meet regulatory requirements. But may also feel the need to publicly reject national regulations that contradict their commitment to privacy by design. 

The latter was the case when Apple refused Home Office demands to build encryption backdoors for British users. But the company was also designated a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which requires ethical data management and greater customer transparency.

2025 EU and US regulatory updates shaping the future of data privacy

In the EU, AI adoption is creating some of the most evident compliance challenges in 2025. The AI Act brought groundbreaking  restrictions and rules for integrating AI and handling data privacy, while at the same time working to encourage continued innovation. 

The first phase of enforcement started on February 2, 2025, introducing prohibited AI practices and AI literacy requirements. The entirety of the Act becomes enforceable in 2026.

The EU Data Act will be another key data privacy regulation. It will become applicable on September 12, 2025, enhancing the EU data economy with better protection for businesses, simplified switching between cloud service providers for customers, and enabling better access for public sector bodies to respond to public emergencies. 

In the US, eight state-level data privacy laws will have come into effect by the end of 2025, joining over a dozen state-level laws already in force. 

• January 1, 2025:  Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska, New Hampshire
• January 15, 2025: New Jersey
• July 1, 2025: Tennessee
• July 15, 2025: Minnesota
• October 1, 2025: Maryland

These new regulations illustrate evolving thought and policy in data privacy, introducing more nuanced sensitive data definitions, affecting a wider scope of organizations with more defined compliance thresholds, and further expanding consumer rights. This way, an even broader range of companies are realizing the need to innovate and incorporate learnings from data privacy trends.

More regulations in 2025 shaping trends in data security

• Digital Markets Act (DMA) with Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Booking.com, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft as designated “gatekeepers” in the EU, and subject to the law’s requirements and restrictions
• General Data Protection Regulation with the key GDPR requirements for businesses processing data in the EU, , and it’s also been influential on privacy legislation around the world
• GDPR and marketing guide to help your business adopt Privacy-Led Marketing to comply with GDPR requirements in 2025 and beyond 
• Canada’s PIPEDA, which has 10 specific principles for compliance, and requirements varying among more GDPR-esque and more US-centric
• Brazil’s LGPD, which was strongly influenced by the GDPR, but has since evolved to meet the country’s specific challenges and innovation requirements

The end of third-party cookies

Google reversed its plan to fully deprecate third-party cookies in 2024, but the intention has still impacted marketers in 2025. 

Businesses are paying attention to more sustainable and privacy-safe solutions that can both address Google policy requirements and prepare them for the cookieless future. (Many other popular browsers have long since deprecated third-party cookie use.)

In 2025, collecting personal data and cookies via Google services means managing personal data with extra data security:

• Migrating to privacy-first solutions, including zero- and first-party data
• Regular audits of data operations, including cookie use and third-party vendors
• Keeping up with legal requirements and tech platform partners’ policies regarding third-party cookie use and restrictions 

In coming years, privacy-first marketing is among the most promising of growing data protection trends. It prioritizes consumer privacy and transparency, shifting from third-party to greater reliance on zero- and first-party data. By giving customers control, companies increase user trust through ethical data protection practices and gain more high quality data, while enabling compliance with laws like the GDPR. 

The key principles of privacy-first marketing include: 

• User control over data collection and use
• Data minimization — collection and use for stated and necessary purposes only
• Explicit prior consent or opt-out options as laws require
• Transparency in data use, sharing, and retention

Rise of server-side tracking and consent-based analytics

Implementing Server-Side Tagging (SST) to control data flows responsibly is gaining momentum in 2025. This helps companies to move beyond just privacy compliance to customer advocacy and strategic, responsible use of consented data.  

Key drivers for server-side tracking and consent-based analytics data privacy trends

The regulatory landscape is evolving nearly as fast as technologies are. Marketers have been scrambling to keep up so their strategies and campaigns don’t become obsolete or run afoul of consent requirements and data use restrictions. Here are a few factors that have been driving server-side tracking and consent-based analytics.

• The GDPR’s stricter requirements for consent and activation of user data
• Data accuracy challenges arising from client-side tracking due to gaps and attribution problems
• Slow site performance optimization due to client-side tags, affecting both SEO metrics and user experience
• Technical necessity to filter and anonymize data before transferring it to third-party platforms
• Demand for full control over data collected and transmitted by the company
• Need to cleanse and enrich collected data

Investing in server-side tracking can help with data handling challenges related to privacy and marketing performance. However, the exact solution to meet your business needs will depend on the expectations, legal and technical requirements, and the nature of the company’s digital activities.

Consumer demand for transparency and control

Consumers’ demands for transparency about data collection, retention, and use continue to grow in 2025, and will continue to do so. Users are insisting that companies like Meta (and millions of websites using the Meta Pixel computer string code for analytics) be transparent about what data they collect and how it’s used and shared. 

To meet these demands, companies large and small need to implement either opt-in or opt-out approaches, sometimes even combining both, depending on the region and the regulations applicable where users reside. 

Reasons why transparency drives trends in data privacy in 2025

Changes in the data privacy landscape, and in digital business more broadly, are coming from all sides. Some days, regulatory compliance may seem like the least of marketers’ concerns as they deal with challenges: 

• Increase in awareness of both data privacy and the value of personal data, making customers more conscious about data protection and control over access to their information.
• Implementation of AI in digital products, with a lingering lack of full understanding about how it works and where data is ending up, raising both curiosity and concerns.
• Rising competition among companies that are striving to obtain and activate as much high quality data and provide as many dedicated insights as possible to drive advantages in crowded markets.

The level of transparency each company provides regarding data collection and security directly impacts its reputation among customers. This is why the importance of understanding what transparency really means to customers, and doing it right is also gaining momentum as a top priority for enterprises.

Data minimization and storage limitation

Pretty much all privacy regulations require companies to meet strict requirements regarding how they collect and store private information, putting data minimization and storage limitation in the list of most high demanding data privacy trends. 

The less data a company collects and the less time they retain it, the lower the privacy or breach risks.

Data minimization includes:

• Collecting as little data as possible and only enough to fulfill the stated purpose(s)
• Auditing and revising data collection methods and purposes for use and retention
• Automating data management so data is kept secure, only shared where permitted, and securely deleted when no longer needed

After proper data collection, storage limitation requires keeping minimized data only for the necessary period of time. Once the purpose for the data collection is fulfilled, it should be deleted or anonymized. If a company wants to use the data for another purpose, under many laws new information about this must be provided to data subjects and new consent obtained.

This way, companies lean into the “store less, protect more” principle of data security.

Privacy by design and by default

Privacy by design helps businesses achieve and maintain compliance with key regulations and seamlessly integrate most data protection trends into their products, services, and business operations. It also enables teams to build a privacy discipline into their work, where privacy is centered from day one and in all initiatives, not bolted on as an afterthought.

In essence, it helps establish a preventative approach where businesses proactively protect data, and don’t just act to cover themselves after a breach or complaint. This privacy-centered approach also sends a clear message of respect for users’ privacy and data, helping to foster trust at all points of the customer journey.

Key privacy by design principles 

1. Privacy as the default setting: Businesses foresee and mitigate most common challenges for data privacy at the planning stages, helping to ensure the highest level of data protection for users.
2. Privacy embedded into design: Every product development step is based on the privacy-first principle, which impacts both data security and product or service functionality.
3. End-to-end security: The data privacy trends regarding data collection and storage limitation can be addressed more fully, as businesses collect only the data they need, keep it only as long as needed, and have robust security measures to protect it.
4. Transparency and visibility: Accountability is addressed as companies invest in being more open about their privacy procedures and policies.
5. Usercentricity: Businesses enable their users to control and manage their data, and engage them in the data protection process.

AI in privacy compliance and automation

AI and data privacy is a hot topic in 2025, as the technology expands both opportunities and concerns. This year, AI systems don’t just consume data, but also learn, evolve, and reuse it. But it’s still actively disputed if or how they might compromise regulatory requirements and personal privacy.

Here are some of key AI concerns for the future of data privacy in 2025:

• Third-party integrations may carry additional risks for consent signaling, data safety, and secure transmission.
• AI algorithms are still unclear, which complicates ensuring privacy compliance, data minimization, and valid consent.
• AI inference can expose sensitive data.

Generally users don’t trust AI. According to Usercentrics’ report: The State of Digital Trust in 2025, 59 percent of respondents feel uncomfortable when AI models are trained on their data. And more broadly, 62 percent of people feel that they have become the product.

As a result, the demand for data transparency — one of the most prominent data privacy trends this year — is currently at odds with many  users’ perceptions of AI and what it means for them and their data.

Cross-border data transfer challenges

With tariff wars, questions about administration changes, and reestablishing trade agreements in 2025, complex global digital ecosystems face new challenges in maintaining privacy standards. 

The data privacy framework concept, like the EU-U.S. one, refers to countries agreeing on adequate measures for security and access to data when it crosses national borders, like if personal data from European users was transferred to data centers in the US belonging to tech companies like Google.

While many businesses have increasing concerns about privacy requirements of important tech partners, e.g. for advertising, cross-border challenges show that overall, compliance very much involves governments and companies, and that companies need to be aware of relevant regulations and business policies.

Integration of privacy and cybersecurity practices

Companies have started paying closer attention to unified data protection strategies to ensure that corporate and user information is secured and access and use are controlled. 

The most popular strategies to achieve this include:

• Data encryption to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access. Apart from converting from plaintext to cyphertext, companies face the need to manage and properly store encryption keys.
• Regular security assessments to detect and prevent data security flaws. Security audits, penetration tests, and vulnerability scans are measures to minimize potential risks in this case.
• Employee education for ongoing and dedicated training programs to teach employees how to recognize and react to possible threats, and be resistant to them, like social engineering. 
• Activity logging that helps detect and streamline investigation of suspicious activities.

Growth of the global privacy tech ecosystem

Consent management platforms have become popular to help companies to provide transparency and obtain valid consent, avoiding regulatory penalties and maintaining a high level of user trust. Such platforms help securely collect, store, and signal consent information based on the relevant regulatory requirements.

With compliance automation, the compliance process can accelerate and be more efficient, enabling adherence to the legal requirements, policies, and  applicable standards without requiring significant ongoing resources.

As for the near future of data privacy, privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) are getting more recognition. While still evolving, they already complement existing regulations to enhance data protection with:

• Encrypted data processing
• Data accountability tools 
• Distributed and federated analytics 
• Anonymization and differential privacy

Employee and B2B data protection

According to CCPA requirements, employee and B2B data, including email subscribers, website visitors, and others, is now treated the same way as any other consumer data. 

As a result, areas that require now attention include:

• Access requests: As large companies tend to gather significant volumes of employee data — including contact information, identification, financial details, and performance records,  granting access to this data should be strictly controlled due to requirements of multiple regulations.
• Deletion requests: Like customers, employees and B2B contacts are now eligible for requesting the deletion of their personal information unless it complies there is a legal obligation for retention or this data is solely stored for internal use
• Privacy disclosures: Businesses have to disclose information on their data practices and inform data subjects of their privacy rights and how to exercise them. 

Trust and brand reputation as a competitive edge

With the growing demand for data privacy control and protection, fears of negative PR, and concerns about fines and operational disruptions, fostering customer loyalty through data privacy operations is becoming one of the top priorities for companies. 

Back in 2023, approximately 66 percent of Americans surveyed wouldn’t trust a company if it recently experienced a data breach. By 2025, 44 percent recognize transparency about data use as the number one driver for trusting a brand. 

Embracing data privacy trends today means building and maintaining effective, up-to-date data privacy management and security solutions that will increasingly benefit brands tomorrow.

Preparing your business for future privacy challenges

To stay privacy-compliant, competitive, and trusted in the upcoming years, pay attention to these data protection trends in 2025:

• Stay up to date with regulatory updates. Check critical relevant regulations and legislation in progress and implement a data privacy management software solution to manage notifications and compliance. 
• Be clear about AI. Communicate transparently and be open to talk to your users directly. And it goes without saying, don’t train AI on user content or data without their consent. (Even if there aren’t yet strict legal requirements in your jurisdiction.)
• Become a privacy by design pioneer: Invest in making data privacy an integral part of each critical business decision, customer experience, and product development stage to mitigate future compliance risks and establish your brand as one that cares about privacy.
• Make users your data privacy partners: Build your brand with privacy as a major touchpoint and make it understandable and valuable. Focus on zero- and first-party data and explicit user preferences for data that’s consented and higher quality.