Is Google Analytics 4 Illegal in Europe in 2025? A DPO Guide

Regulators across Europe, including the CNIL and other DPAs, continue to scrutinize analytics tools that transmit personal data outside the EU. Even when data is pseudonymized, transfer risk remains.

GA4 depends on infrastructure that may be subject to foreign jurisdiction. That alone can trigger DPO concerns.

The safest approach is to avoid collecting personal data altogether and keep processing in jurisdictions you control.

Standard Contractual Clauses help, but they do not erase jurisdictional exposure. If a provider is subject to foreign law, DPOs must assess residual risk.

In practice, regulators look for meaningful minimization and strong technical boundaries, not just policy promises.

• Is any personal data collected at all (IP, cookies, user agent)?
• Where is data stored and which jurisdiction applies?
• Can we show auditable proof of minimization and rotation?

Sovereign analytics means zero PII, daily rotating session hashes, and storage that never leaves your controlled region.

[analytics]
collect_ips = false
collect_user_agent = false
session_rotation_hours = 24
url_sanitize = true
utm_strip = true

Document these controls in your records of processing to show that analytics cannot be used for individual profiling.