Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how information about you is collected, used, and disclosed by Descript, Inc. (“us”,“we”, or “our”) when you use and access our Descript media editing and transcription tool, which includes the Descript App for Mac, Windows, and Web (the “App”), the Descript website (the “Site”), and all related tools and services (collectively, the “Descript Service”) or when you otherwise interact with us, such as through our customer support channels or on social media pages. We may provide different notices of our privacy practices with respect to certain products or services, in which case this Privacy Policy will not apply.

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make changes, we will notify you by revising the date at the top of the policy and, in some cases, we may provide you with additional notice (such as adding a statement to our homepage or sending you an email notification). We encourage you to review the Privacy Policy whenever you access the Descript Service to stay informed about our information practices and the ways you can help protect your privacy.

Contents

Collection of Information

Information You Provide to Us. We collect information you provide directly to us. For example, we may collect information when you create an account with Descript, fill out a form, create a project, upload content, request support, send us an email, or otherwise communicate or interact with us. The types of information we collect may include your name, email address, postal address, password, content like video, voice, or audio recordings and images, and other information you choose to provide. Additionally, if you subscribe to Descript, we collect details about your subscription like the type, duration, cost, and start date of your subscription, and we work with a third-party payment processor to collect and process your payment information.

Information We Collect Automatically. When you access or use the Descript Service, we may automatically collect information about you, including:

• Log Information: We log information about your use of the Descript Service, including how you use theApp, the type of browser you use, browser language, access times, pages viewed, duration of time for which you viewed a page, your IP address and the page you visited before navigating to the Descript Service;
• Device Information: We collect information about the computer or mobile device you use to access the Descript Service, including the hardware model, operating system and version, unique device identifiers and mobile network information; and
• Information Collected by Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies: We (and those who perform work for us) use various technologies to collect information, and this may include sending cookies to your computer or mobile device. Cookies are small data files stored on your hard drive or in device memory that helps us to better understand how the Descript Service is used and improve the Descript Service and your experience. We may also collect information using web beacons (also known as “tracking pixels”). Web beacons are electronic images that may be used in the Descript Service or emails and help deliver cookies, count visits, understand usage and campaign effectiveness, and determine whether an email has been opened and acted upon. For more information about cookies, and how to disable them, please see Your Choices section below.

Information We Collect from Other Sources

We obtain information from other sources. For example, we may collect information from social networks, advertising networks, internet service providers, and data analytics providers. This information includes handles, content, and other information shared with us through third-party features that you use on the Descript Service or posted on social media pages (such as our social media page or other pages accessible to us). Additionally, if you create or log into your account through a third-party platform (such as Google), we will have access to certain information from that platform, such as your name, in accordance with the authorization procedures determined by that platform.

Information We Derive

We may derive information or draw inferences about you based on the information we collect. For example, we may make inferences about your location based on your IP address.

Use of Information

We may use information we collect from you for various purposes, including to:

• Provide, maintain, analyze, test, and improve the Descript Service and our technology;
• Generate voiceprints, which may be considered biometric data in some jurisdictions, and use those voiceprints to authenticate you and prevent fraud as described below;
• Process transactions and send you related information, including confirmations and invoices;
• Send you technical notices, updates, security alerts and support and administrative messages;
• Respond to your comments, questions, and requests and provide customer service;
• Communicate with you about products, services, offers, promotions, rewards, and events offered by us and others, and provide news and information we think will be of interest to you (see the Your Choices section below for information about how to opt-out of these communications at any time);
• Monitor and analyze trends, usage, performance, and activities in connection with the Descript Service;
• Target advertisements to you on third-party properties as described below;
• Detect, investigate and prevent security incidents, fraudulent transactions, and other illegal activities and protect the rights and property of us and others;
• Personalize and improve the Descript Service and for research and development purposes including training our artificial intelligence models;
• Comply with our legal and financial obligations;
• Create de-identified, anonymized, or aggregated information that we will not attempt to re-identify; and
• Carry out the purposes for which the information was specifically collected or for which you provided consent.

Note with Respect to the Use of Project Information: Notwithstanding the foregoing, we protect the information contained in the Projects you create using the Descript Service (the “Projects’) as confidential information, and limit our use thereof, in accordance with the confidentiality obligations set forth in our Terms of Service. The Descript Service automatically processes your Projects, but it does not involve human access to your Projects unless: 1) you provide your consent; 2) we are required to do so by law. We may also use your Projects to analyze and improve the Descript Service. You can opt out of having your Projects used to improve the Descript Service by emailing us at support@descript.com.

Note with Respect to AI Speakers: When you use AI Speakers, we record your voice and use it to create a voice model for the purpose of providing the Descript Service. We may also use and store other training data associated with AI Speakers as part of our research datasets to analyze, maintain, and improve our technology, including our voice technology, and for other research and development and data analysis purposes. However, before doing so, we disassociate the data from your account. In addition, we may have our employees and contractors listen to audio samples of your original and your AI Speakers recordings to test their quality and Descript employees may use your AI Voice to create a series of non-defamatory utterances, solely for internal, quality assurance purposes. Other than as described above, only you, and people you explicitly share access with, will have access to your audio recordings. We will not disclose your audio recordings to third parties except as expressly set forth in this Privacy Policy.

When you use AI Speakers, we generate voice prints from your consent statement and the audio recording you are editing to authenticate you and prevent fraud. We will retain those voiceprints until the purpose of collection has been satisfied or for up to three years after you last accessed your account, whichever occurs first. The Descript software that generates voiceprints runs on web hosting infrastructure provided by one of our vendors. Descript does not otherwise disclose voiceprints to third parties.

Note with Respect to Google API Services: We use YouTube's API Services in connection with the Descript Service to provide certain features. Such use is subject to Google’s Privacy Policy located at http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/ and the YouTube Terms of Service located at https://www.youtube.com/t/terms. In addition to our normal procedures for managing and deleting stored data, you can manage and revoke access to your YouTube API data via the Google security settings page at https://security.google.com/settings/security/permissions. We also use Google's Workspace API to provide certain features of the Descript Service. Please note, however, that we will not use any data obtained through our integration with Google Workspace to develop, improve, or train our AI models.

Note with Respect to Advertising and Analytics: We may allow others to provide analytics services and serve advertisements on our behalf across the Internet and in applications. These entities may use cookies, web beacons, device identifiers and other technologies to collect information about your use of the Descript Service, including your IP address, web browser, mobile network information, pages viewed, time spent on pages or in apps, links clicked, and conversion information. This information may be used by us and others to, among other things, analyze and track data, determine the popularity of certain content, deliver advertising and content targeted to your interests on the Descript Service and other websites and better understand your online activity. For more information about interest-based ads, or to opt out of having your web browsing information used for behavioral advertising purposes, please visit https://optout.aboutads.info/?c=2&lang=EN or visit if you are a resident of the EEA. Your device may also include a feature (“Limit Ad Tracking” on iOS or “Opt Out of Interest-Based Ads” on Android) that allows you to opt out of having certain information collected through apps used for behavioral advertising purposes.

Disclosure of Information

As a general rule, we limit the circumstances in which we disclose your information to third parties and there is no human access to your Projects except as described above. However, in certain circumstances, as described below or as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy, we disclose personal information as follows:

• We disclose personal information to vendors, consultants, and other service providers who need access to such information to carry out work on our behalf, including, but not limited to, third-party payment processors, advertising partners, and vendors who assist us in providing, developing, testing and improving the Descript Service and our technology;
• We may disclose personal information to legal authorities and others if we believe disclosure is in accordance with any applicable law, regulation or legal process, or as otherwise required by any applicable law, rule, or regulation or if we believe your actions are inconsistent with the spirit or language of our user agreements or policies, if we believe that you have violated the law, or if we believe it is necessary to protect the rights, property, and safety of us or others;
• We disclose personal information to third parties who assist us with marketing;
• We may disclose personal information to our lawyers and other professional advisors where necessary to obtain advice or otherwise protect and manage our business interests;
• We may disclose personal information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company;
• We may disclose personal information between and among us and our current and future parents, affiliates, and subsidiaries and other companies under common control and ownership; and
• We disclose personal information with your consent or at your direction, including if we notify you through the Descript Service or otherwise that the information you provide will be disclosed in a particular manner and you choose to provide such information.

We may also disclose aggregated or anonymized information that does not directly identify you.

Please note that any Projects that are designated as “public” or any other information you post in a public area of the Descript Service may be publicly viewable, including any information about you that may be contained in such Project, and will no longer be treated as confidential.

Security

We take reasonable measures to help protect information about you from loss, theft, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction, but we cannot guarantee the security of information and you use the Descript Services at your own risk.

Transfer of Information to the U.S. and Other Countries

Descript is based in the United States and we process and store information in the U.S. Therefore, we and our service providers may transfer your information to, or store or access it in, jurisdictions that may not provide equivalent levels of data protection as your home jurisdiction. We will take steps to ensure that your personal data receives an adequate level of protection in the jurisdictions in which we process it.

Applicant Information

When you apply for a position with Descript, we collect the information that you provide in connection with your application. This includes name, contact information, professional credentials and skills, educational and work history, and other information that may be included in a resume or provided during interviews (which may be recorded). This may also include demographic or diversity information that you voluntarily provide. We may also conduct background checks and receive related information.

We use applicants’ information to facilitate our recruitment activities and process applications, including evaluating candidates and monitoring recruitment and hiring statistics. We use successful candidates’ information to administer the employment or independent contractor relationship. We may also use and disclose applicants’ information (a) to improve the Site, (b) as otherwise necessary to comply with relevant laws, (c) to respond to subpoenas or warrants served on Descript, and (d) to protect and defend the rights or property of Descript or others.

Your Choices

Account Information. You may update, correct or delete information provided to us in connection with the Descript Service at any time by contacting us at support@descript.com. If you wish to delete or deactivate your account, contact support@descript.com, but note that we may retain certain information as required by law or for legitimate business purposes. We may also retain cached or archived copies of information about you for a certain period of time.

Cookies. Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove or reject browser cookies. Removing or rejecting browser cookies does not necessarily affect third party flash cookies used in connection with the Descript Service.

Promotional Communications. You may opt out of receiving promotional emails from us by following the instructions in those emails. If you opt out, we may still send you non-promotional communications, such as those about your account or our ongoing business relations.

Data Retention

We store other personal data for as long as necessary to carry out the purposes for which we originally collected it and for other legitimate business purposes, including to meet our legal, regulatory, or other compliance obligations.

Residents of Certain U.S. States

Privacy laws in certain states like California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and Virginia require additional disclosures and grant their residents certain rights. This section applies to residents of those states.

Additional Disclosures

We collect the following categories of personal information: identifiers, commercial information, internet of electronic network activity information, audio/visual information, and inferences. We collect that information from the following categories of sources: directly from you, from the third-party sources identified above, and by automated means. Please see the Collection of Information section above for more information.

We use and disclose the categories of personal information we collect as follows:

We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information to infer characteristics about you

Your Privacy Rights

Access, Correction, and Deletion

You have the right to (1) request to know more about and access your personal information, (2) request deletion of your personal information, and (3) request correction of inaccurate personal information. Contact us to exercise these rights.

We may verify your request by asking you to verify your email address and/or provide information related to your recent interactions with us. If we deny your request, you may appeal by contacting us.

Opting Out of Sales, Sharing, and Targeted Advertising

As described in the “Note with Respect to Advertising and Analytics” section above, we process personal information to understand and improve your experience with our Site and to serve you advertisements on nonDescript properties. These activities may result in us selling or sharing identifiers, internet or other electronic network activity information, and inferences with our advertising partners (including social media platforms) so our advertising partners can show ads that are targeted to your interests on other platforms. These activities may be considered targeted advertising under certain laws. You can disable these technologies as described in the Your Choices section above. You may need to renew your opt-out choice if you use a different browser or device to access our Site, or if you clear your cookies. We do not “share” or “sell” any other categories of personal information nor do we knowingly “sell” or “share” personal information about consumers under the age of 16.

Nondiscrimination

We will not treat you differently for exercising your privacy rights.

Authorized Agents

If you are submitting a rights request as an authorized agent, you must submit proof of your authorization to make the request, such as a valid power of attorney or signed permission from the subject of the request. Please do not provide any sensitive personal information in connection with this request, such as a driver's license or other government-issued ID. In some cases, we may contact the subject of the request for verification. If you are an authorized agent seeking to make a request, please contact us.

Users in the European Economic Area

If you are in the European Economic Area (“EEA”), the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, you have certain rightsand protections under the law regarding the processing of your personal data, and this section applies to you.

Legal Basis for Processing

When we process your personal data we will only do so in the following situations:

• We need to use information about you to perform our responsibilities under our contract with you such as to process your transcriptions and provide the Services you have requested;
• We have a legitimate interest in processing information about you to operate our business or protect our interests. For example, we may process information about you to send you marketing communications, to communicate with you about changes to the Descript Service, and to provide, secure, and improve the Descript Service;
• We need to process information about you to comply with our legal obligations; and
• We may process information about you with your consent, which you may revoke at any time (see the Your Choices section above).

Data Subject Requests

Subject to certain limitations, you have the right to access personal data we hold about you and to ask that your personal data be corrected, erased, or transferred. You may also have the right to object to, or request that we restrict, certain processing. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, you may contact us as indicated below.

Questions or Complaints

If you have a concern about our processing of personal data that we are not able to resolve, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the data privacy authority where you reside. Contact details for your Data ProtectionAuthority can be found using the links below:

For individuals in the EEA: https://edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/board/members_en
For individuals in the UK: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
For individuals in Switzerland: https://www.edoeb.admin.ch/edoeb/en/home/the-fdpic/contact.html

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at support@descript.com or through the Descript Services as described here.