How do I send an email to the signatories of my petition?

1. Log in
2. Go to the petition page
3. Click the link Manage petition
4. Click the link Publish an update

When you create a petition, you are asked to decide how you will use signatories’ personal data. If you chose the purpose ‘To keep the signatory up to date on the progress of the petition by sending emails’, then we have already requested consent from signatories for sending them emails about the progress of the petition. In this case, publishing an update will automatically send an email notification to all signatories who have given consent for this.

Is it possible to send emails to the signatories without consent?

It may still be possible to contact signatories based on your legitimate interest as the data controller. However, under GDPR you must first carry out a balancing test to ensure that your interest in contacting signatories does not override their rights and expectations.

Important data protection considerations

For GDPR reasons, we strongly recommend using a professional email system. Sending emails manually from a personal account is risky. If you forget to use the BCC field even once, all recipients could see each other’s email addresses. That would count as a data breach under GDPR, which could lead to complaints from signatories, an investigation by the data protection authority, possible fines, and loss of trust in your petition.

At the moment, we do not provide a feature to send emails to signatories without their consent.