Privacy Notice
Coursera's privacy notice now explicitly covers business contacts (e.g., people who request demos or talk to sales), adding a new 'Business Contact Data' category collected directly and from third parties/employers/public sources, used to market Coursera's and affiliate Udemy's products. Marketing purposes were also broadened to explicitly include marketing Udemy's products, and the data-use table now allows some processing based on 'legitimate interests' as an alternative legal basis where it previously required consent. A new paragraph clarifies how to opt out of marketing. Most other edits are typo/formatting fixes.
New category of data collected about business contacts
If you've ever contacted Coursera's sales team, requested a demo, or attended one of their business events, they now explicitly collect your job title, company name, and work contact details — including from sources other than you, like your employer or public records and data brokers.
“Business Contact Data: such as your name, job title, company name, business email address, business phone number, and other professional contact information”
DATA COLLECTION
Business contact data can be sourced from third parties and public records
Coursera can now fill in your professional profile using outside sources like data brokers, your employer, or public information, not just what you tell them directly.
“We may also collect Business Contact Data about you from third-party commercial sources, your employer or organization, or from publicly available sources.”
DATA COLLECTION
Your data may now be used to market a sister company's products
Coursera can use your information to promote Udemy (a related company) to you, in addition to its own products. This is a new, named use of your data for a company that isn't Coursera itself.
“to market the products and services of Coursera's affiliates (including Udemy, Inc.) to you”
What you can do — Opt out of marketing via the unsubscribe link in any marketing email, by emailing privacy@coursera.org, or by changing email preferences in your account settings.
DATA SHARING
Analytics processing can rely on 'legitimate interest' instead of requiring your consent
For tracking how you use the site to improve products, Coursera added 'legitimate interest' as a legal justification alongside consent. This gives them more flexibility to process this data without asking for your opt-in first, except where local law requires consent.
“For our legitimate interests to run, grow and develop our business; or with your consent, where required by applicable law”
DATA COLLECTION
| 1 | _Last updated: September 3, 2026._ | |
| 1 | _Last updated: October 12, 2026._ | |
± CHANGEDLast updated date changed The document's last-updated date moved from September 3, 2026 to October 12, 2026. | ||
| 2 | 2 | |
| 3 | 3 | ## Key Information |
| 4 | 4 | |
| 5 | 5 | - Coursera, Inc. is the data controller of the Personal Data (as defined below) we process about you, meaning that we determine the means and purposes of collecting, using, storing, disclosing, or otherwise processing your Personal Data. However, if you are participating in a degree program, certain certificate programs where you are required to enroll with the academic institution, or in other circumstances communicated to you, Coursera is the data processor. |
| 6 | 6 | - We collect the Personal Data set out in the "What Personal Data We Collect" section of this Privacy Notice below, including account registration details such as name and email, details of Content Offerings you undertake, survey information (where you provide it), identity verification data, and information about your use of the Site (as defined below) and Services. |
| 7 | 7 | - We use your Personal Data for the purposes set out in the "Legal bases and Purposes for Processing your Personal Data" section of this Privacy Notice below. These purposes include providing the Site and Services to you, maintaining the security and performance of the Site, conducting research relating to Content Offerings, sharing information with our Content Providers and our suppliers, direct marketing, and performing statistical analysis of the use of our Site and Services. |
| 8 | 8 | - You have a number of rights that you can exercise in relation to our use of your Personal Data, as set out in the "Your Rights" section of this Privacy Notice below. |
| 9 | 9 | |
| 10 | 10 | ## Purpose and who we are |
| 11 | 11 | |
| 12 | The purpose of this Privacy Notice is to describe how Coursera, Inc., our subsidiaries, affiliates, and our international branches, ("**Coursera**," "**us**," "**we**," or "**our**") collects, uses, stores, discloses, and otherwise processes your Personal Data (as defined below), including through our websites, mobile applications (collectively, the "**Site**"), products, and Services. | |
| 12 | The purpose of this Privacy Notice is to describe how Coursera, Inc., our subsidiaries, affiliates, and our international branches, ("**Coursera**," "**us**," "**we**," or "**our**") collects, uses, stores, discloses, and otherwise processes your Personal Data (as defined below), including through our websites, mobile applications (collectively, the "**Site**"), products, and Services. It also applies to business contacts of Coursera, such as existing and prospective Customers, Content Providers, Partners, and Instructors. | |
+ ADDEDPolicy now covers business contacts, not just learners The notice now states it also applies to business contacts like prospective customers, content providers, partners, and instructors — not just people using the learning platform. | ||
| 13 | 13 | |
| 14 | 14 | Please read this Privacy Notice carefully to understand what we do. If you do not understand any aspects of our Privacy Notice, please feel free to contact us at [privacy@coursera.org](mailto:privacy@coursera.org). If you need to access this Privacy Notice in an alternative format due to a disability, please contact us at [privacy@coursera.org](mailto:privacy@coursera.org). Your use of our Site is also governed by our [Terms of Use](https://www.coursera.org/about/terms). Terms used but not defined in this Privacy Notice can be found in our Terms of Use. This Privacy Notice does not apply to the Ollie mobile application or any related or supporting products, features, and services (collectively, the "**Ollie App**"). If you use the Ollie App, please refer to the [Ollie Privacy Notice](https://learnwithollie.com/privacy-notice) for details on how Coursera collects, uses, stores, discloses, and otherwise processes your Personal Data. |
| 15 | 15 | |
| 16 | 16 | Coursera, Inc. is a Delaware corporation with a principal place of business at 2440 West El Camino Real, Suite 500, Mountain View, CA 94040, USA. If you reside or are located in the European Economic Area ("**EEA**") or United Kingdom ("**UK**"), Coursera is the data controller of all Personal Data collected via the Site and of certain Personal Data collected from third parties, as set out in this Privacy Notice, unless you are part of a degree, certain certificate programs, or certain other circumstances as communicated to you, in which case Coursera is the data processor. |
| 17 | 17 | |
| 18 | 18 | ## What Information this Privacy Notice Covers |
| 36 | 36 | We may collect your Personal Data directly from you, including the following: |
| 37 | 37 | |
| 38 | 38 | - **Identity and Contact Data**: such as your name, date of birth, mailing address, email address, and phone number. |
| 39 | 39 | |
| 40 | 40 | - **Account Registration Data**: if you register for an account on the Site, you may be required to provide us with certain Personal Data including name, email address, username and password. You may also voluntarily provide us with additional Personal Data including when you update or change information for your account. |
| 41 | 41 | |
| 42 | - **Communications with Coursera**. We may receive and record Personal Data when you send us an email message or otherwise contact us, including through the use of an in-platform messaging/chat feature. | |
| 42 | - **Communications with Coursera**. we may receive and record Personal Data when you send us an email message or otherwise contact us, including through the use of an in-platform messaging/chat feature. | |
| 43 | 43 | |
| 44 | - **Product or Service Purchase Information**: Information about what Products or Services you have purchased. For more information on payment processing, please see the section on "Personal Data third parties collect from you directly". | |
| 44 | - **Product or Service Purchase Information**: information about what Products or Services you have purchased. For more information on payment processing, please see the section on "Personal Data third parties collect from you directly". | |
| 45 | 45 | |
| 46 | - **Information about your interests, preferences and affiliations** insofar as they relate to the Product and/or Services that we provide (e.g., when you sign-up for email or account updates). | |
| 46 | - **Information about your interests, preferences and affiliations**: insofar as they relate to the Product and/or Services that we provide (e.g., when you sign-up for email or account updates). | |
| 47 | 47 | |
| 48 | - The **Content of your Communications** such as information provided voluntarily in surveys you complete, or in other exchanges with us, including via email or through the use of an in-platform messaging/chat feature with free-text functionality and voice-enabled features (including audio inputs that are transcribed into text). You should not include any unnecessary Personal Data or information of a sensitive nature, whether relating to you or another person, in the Platform's free-text functionality. | |
| 48 | - **Content of your Communications**: such as information provided voluntarily in surveys you complete, or in other exchanges with us, including via email or through the use of an in-platform messaging/chat feature with free-text functionality and voice-enabled features (including audio inputs that are transcribed into text). You should not include any unnecessary Personal Data or information of a sensitive nature, whether relating to you or another person, in the Platform's free-text functionality. | |
| 49 | 49 | |
| 50 | - **Education, Career and Skills Information** including information about your education, career, skills, interests, goals, and plans, as well as your professional and educational experience and qualifications. | |
| 50 | - **Education, Career and Skills Information**: including information about your education, career, skills, interests, goals, and plans, as well as your professional and educational experience and qualifications. | |
| 51 | 51 | |
| 52 | - **Demographic Information** such as country of residence, gender, and age. | |
| 52 | - **Demographic Information**: such as country of residence, gender, and age. | |
| 53 | 53 | |
| 54 | 54 | - **Other Personal Data you provide**: e.g., information you voluntarily provide to us when you participate in our public forums ("**Forums**"), and/or participate in Content Offerings or other Services on the Site. |
| 55 | 55 | |
| 56 | - **Business Contact Data**: such as your name, job title, company name, business email address, business phone number, and other professional contact information, for example, when you request a demo, complete a contact form, attend an event, or communicate with our sales team in connection with our business and enterprise products. | |
+ ADDEDNew 'Business Contact Data' category collected directly from you Coursera now collects business-related info like your job title, company name, and business email/phone when you request a demo, fill out a contact form, attend an event, or talk to their sales team. | ||
| 57 | ||
| 56 | 58 | _In relation to the Forums, please note that you should not include any information of a personal or sensitive nature, whether relating to you or another person, in a Forum post. We may publish any information you post including via extensions of our platform that use third-party services, like mobile applications. Please also reference our Terms of Use and our Code of Conduct for additional information about proper use of our Forums._ |
| 57 | 59 | |
| 58 | 60 | _If you participate in a Content Offering, we may collect certain user-generated content, such as assignments you submit, peer-graded assignments, and peer grading feedback. We also collect course data, such as responses to in-video quizzes, standalone quizzes, exams, and surveys. You should not include any information of a personal or sensitive nature, whether relating to you or another person, on assignments, exams, or surveys, except for information required to participate in or submit such assignments, exams, or surveys._ |
| 59 | 61 | |
| 60 | **Personal Data we collect from your device(s) as your use the Site** | |
| 62 | **Personal Data we collect from your device(s) as you use the Site** | |
± CHANGEDDate collected from device typo fix Fixed a small wording error ('as your use' to 'as you use') in a section heading — no substantive change. | ||
| 61 | 63 | |
| 62 | 64 | When you visit the Site, we may track, collect, and aggregate information from your device(s) indicating, among other things, which pages of the Site were visited, the order in which they were visited, when they were visited, and which hyperlinks were clicked on. We also collect information from the URLs from which you linked to the Site. |
| 63 | 65 | |
| 64 | 66 | Collecting such information may involve logging the **IP address**, **operating system**, and **browser software** used by each user of the Site. We may be able to determine from an IP address a **user's Internet Service Provider** and the geographic location of their point of connectivity. **Location data** may be used to route your traffic to the nearest regional server to reduce latency and improve your experience. |
| 65 | 67 | |
| 66 | 68 | We may also use cookies, web beacons, and other similar technologies when you visit our Site. For more information on our use of cookies and web beacons, please refer to our [Cookies Policy](https://www.coursera.org/about/cookies). |
| 76 | 78 | - **Survey data**: We may receive Personal Data when you provide information in response to a survey operated by a Content Provider. |
| 77 | 79 | |
| 78 | 80 | - **Data relating to your use of partner sites**: This may include information such as the **amount of time spent on the partner site and pages viewed**. Partner sites providing Content Offering-related tools and services to Coursera users may collect non-financial individual-level user data regarding the individual's use of that partner site while the partner sites provide those services to Coursera. The partner sites may share that data with Coursera for the purpose of improving our Services, the partner site's services, and the individual's education experience. |
| 79 | 81 | |
| 80 | 82 | - **Account registration / invitation data**: When an organization invites you to join the Coursera platform through its Enterprise program, Coursera may receive Personal Data about you that the organization provides as part of the invitation / sign-up process. |
| 81 | 83 | |
| 84 | - **Business contact data**: We may also collect Business Contact Data about you from third-party commercial sources, your employer or organization, or from publicly available sources. | |
+ ADDEDBusiness contact data can also come from third parties Coursera can now also collect your business contact details from outside sources — data brokers, your employer, or public records — rather than only directly from you. | ||
| 85 | ||
| 82 | 86 | **Personal Data third parties collect directly from you** |
| 83 | 87 | |
| 84 | 88 | Our third party partners may collect your Personal Data directly from you in relation to our Products and Services, including the following: |
| 85 | 89 | |
| 86 | 90 | - **Identity Verification**. Coursera may offer you the ability to verify your identity for select Services. In order to enroll for these Services, you may be required to provide us or our third-party identity verification vendor with Personal Data such as your **name**, **address**, **date of birth**, a **headshot** taken using a webcam or device camera, and a **photo identification document**. Coursera's third-party identity verification vendor may use this Personal Data to generate biometric facial data, which is destroyed upon successful completion of verification and in no event after 2 years. Additionally, if you apply for financial aid in connection with these Services, you may be required to provide information regarding your **income**. |
| 87 | 91 | |
| 93 | 97 | |
| 94 | 98 | | Category of Personal data | Purpose of processing | Legal basis | |
| 95 | 99 | | --- | --- | --- | |
| 96 | 100 | | Identity and Contact Data; Account Registration Data; Product or Service Purchase Information; Content of your Communications ; Education, Career and Skills Information; Demographic Information; Personal Data we collect from your device(s); Survey data; Third Party Payment Processing Data | To allow you to access and use the Site and in order to provide any information, products, or Services that you request from us, including processing your communications via text and voice. | To comply with our contract to provide Services to you, your academic institution, your employer, or other organization that may be providing you with access to our Services | |
| 97 | 101 | | Identity and Contact Data; Account Registration Data; Content of your Communications; Personal Data we collect from your device(s) | To provide technical support to you, where required, and to ensure the security of our Services and the Site. | For our legitimate interests to operate our Site and provide our Services as securely as possible | |
| 98 | 102 | | Identity and Contact Data; Account Registration Data; Content of your Communications; Education, Career and Skills Information; Demographic Information | When you sign-up for updates, to send you messages in connection with the Site or Content Offerings. | With your consent | |
| 99 | | Identity and Contact Data; Account Registration Data; Product or Service Purchase Information; Information about your interests, preferences and affiliations; Content of your Communications; Education, Career and Skills Information; Demographic Information; Personal Data we collect from your device(s); Text and/or Images on third party sites; Survey data; Data relating to your use of partner sites | To record and analyze how learners interact with the Site, its features and content, and our Services to build higher quality, more useful Products and/or Services. | For our legitimate interests to run, grow and develop our business | | |
| 103 | | Identity and Contact Data; Account Registration Data; Product or Service Purchase Information; Information about your interests, preferences and affiliations; Content of your Communications; Education, Career and Skills Information; Demographic Information; Personal Data we collect from your device(s); Text and/or Images on third party sites; Survey data; Data relating to your use of partner sites | To record and analyze how learners interact with the Site, its features and content, and our Services to build higher quality, more useful Products and/or Services. | For our legitimate interests to run, grow and develop our business; or with your consent, where required by applicable law | | |
± CHANGEDAnalytics processing can now rely on 'legitimate interest' instead of only consent For the row covering how Coursera analyzes learner interactions to improve products, the legal basis was expanded to allow 'legitimate interests' as a justification, with consent only required where law demands it — previously this wasn't stated as an alternative in this row. | ||
| 100 | 104 | | Identity and Contact Data; Account Registration Data; Content of your Communications; Education, Career and Skills Information; Demographic Information; Text and/or Images on third party sites; Data relating to your use of partner sites | To allow you to access and use the Forums. | To comply with our contract to provide the Forum Services to you, your academic institution, your employer, or other organization that may be providing you with access to Forum Services | |
| 101 | 105 | | Identity and Contact Data; Account Registration Data; Content of your Communications; Education, Career and Skills Information; Demographic Information | When you participate in a Content Offering through the Site including for tracking attendance, progress, and completion of the Content Offerings. | For our legitimate interests to provide an effective means to track participation in Content Offerings | |
| 102 | 106 | | Identity and Contact Data; Account Registration Data; Demographic Information; Personal Data we collect from your device(s); Education, Career and Skills Information | To facilitate and personalize your interaction with Site features, including tailoring content, recommendations, learning support and engagement tools, and remembering preferences or prior interactions to improve your experience. | For our legitimate interests to run, grow and develop our business including by providing you with a personalized Service | |
| 103 | 107 | | Identity and Contact Data; Identity Verification Data | For Services that require identity verification, to verify your identity, and for authenticating that submissions made on the Site were made by you. | With your consent. In the case of biometric data that makes up part of the Identity Verification Data: with your explicit consent or another condition permitted under applicable law | |
| 104 | 108 | | Identity and Contact Data; Account Registration Data; Content of your Communications; Education, Career and Skills Information; Demographic Information | To manage communications with or from Coursera including to archive information and/or use it for future communications with you where we are legally entitled to do so. | For our legitimate interests to run, grow and develop our business including by communicating effectively with you | |
| 105 | 109 | | Identity and Contact Data; Account Registration Data; Information about your interests, preferences and affiliations; Content of your Communications; Demographic Information; Personal Data we collect from your device(s) | Where we send you emails, to track the way that you interact with these emails, to optimize and tailor our communications to you. | With your consent | |
| 106 | 110 | | Identity and Contact Data; Account Registration Data; Product or Service Purchase Information; Content of your Communications; Education, Career and Skills Information; Demographic Information | To share information with our Content Providers and other business partners so they can inform you about their products and services that may be of interest to you where they are legally entitled to do so. | With your consent | |
| 107 | 111 | | Identity and Contact Data; Content of your Communications; Education, Career and Skills Information; Demographic Information; Survey data | For research related to online education. | For our legitimate interests to run, grow and develop our business including by supporting our Partners carrying out research related to online education | |
| 108 | | Identity and Contact Data; Product or Service Purchase Information; Information about your interests, preferences and affiliations; Content of your Communications; Education, Career and Skills Information; Demographic Information; Personal Data we collect from your device(s); Text and/or Images on third party sites; Data relating to your use of partner sites | To send marketing and serve advertising, to inform our marketing and advertising strategies and content, to understand more about our audiences and to personalize our marketing and advertising. | With your consent | | |
| 112 | | Identity and Contact Data; Product or Service Purchase Information; Information about your interests, preferences and affiliations; Content of your Communications; Education, Career and Skills Information; Demographic Information; Personal Data we collect from your device(s); Text and/or Images on third party sites; Data relating to your use of partner sites | To send marketing and serve advertising, to inform our marketing and advertising strategies and content, to understand more about our audiences and to personalize our marketing and advertising, and to market the products and services of Coursera's affiliates (including Udemy, Inc.) to you. | With your consent | | |
± CHANGEDMarketing now explicitly includes promoting Udemy Coursera's marketing and advertising use of your data now specifically includes marketing the products and services of its affiliate Udemy, Inc. to you. | ||
| 109 | 113 | | Identity and Contact Data; Account Registration Data; Product or Service Purchase Information; Information about your interests, preferences and affiliations; Content of your Communications; Education, Career and Skills Information; Demographic Information; Personal Data we collect from your device(s); Text and/or Images on third party sites; Survey data; Data relating to your use of partner sites | To share your Personal Data with government authorities in response to lawful subpoenas, court orders, or other legal processes. | To comply with our legal obligations | |
| 110 | 114 | | Identity and Contact Data; Account Registration Data; Product or Service Purchase Information; Information about your interests, preferences and affiliations; Content of your Communications; Education, Career and Skills Information; Demographic Information; Personal Data we collect from your device(s); Text and/or Images on third party sites; Survey data; Data relating to your use of partner sites | To share your Personal Data with government authorities, external advisors and other relevant or affected third parties when we believe it is appropriate; to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal or suspected illegal activities; to protect and defend the rights, property, or safety of Coursera, the Site, our users, customers, or others; and in connection with our Terms of Use and other agreements. | To comply with our legal obligations | |
| 111 | 115 | | Identity and Contact Data; Account Registration Data; Product or Service Purchase Information; Information about your interests, preferences and affiliations; Content of your Communications; Education, Career and Skills Information; Demographic Information; Personal Data we collect from your device(s); Survey data | To disclose and/or transfer your Personal Data to an acquirer, assignee or other successor entity in connection with a sale, merger, or reorganization of all or substantially all of the equity, business, or assets of Coursera, or becomes an affiliate or subsidiary of Coursera. | For our legitimate interests to engage in a sale, merger, or reorganization process | |
| 116 | | Business Contact Data; Identity and Contact Data | To market our business and enterprise products and services, and those of Coursera's affiliates (including Udemy, Inc.), to existing and prospective Customers, Content Providers, Partners, and Instructors. | For our legitimate interests to run, grow and develop our business; or with your consent, where required by applicable law | | |
+ ADDEDNew table row: business contact data used to market enterprise products A new entry in the data-use table says business contact and identity/contact data will be used to market Coursera's and Udemy's business/enterprise products to prospective customers, partners, content providers, and instructors, based on 'legitimate interest' or consent where required. | ||
| 112 | 117 | |
| 113 | 118 | ## How we use AI |
| 114 | 119 | |
| 115 | 120 | We use a number of AI Product Features ("**Features**") for the purposes set out above. We have grouped the Features into the following categories which - |
| 116 | 121 | |
| 117 | 122 | 1. **Support teaching and course generation**: Features like Course Builder, Program Builder and Smart Ingestion take data from teacher content and produce Coursera-aligned course drafts that students can engage with. |
| 145 | 150 | We will use industry standard physical, technical, and administrative security measures to keep your Personal Data confidential and secure, and will not share it with third parties, except as otherwise provided in this Privacy Notice, or unless such disclosure is necessary in special cases, such as a physical threat to you or others, as permitted by applicable law. Because the Internet is not a 100% secure environment, we cannot guarantee the security of Personal Data, and there is some risk that an unauthorized third party may find a way to circumvent our security systems or that transmission of your information over the Internet will be intercepted. It is your responsibility to protect the security of your login information. Please note that e-mail communications are typically not encrypted and should not be considered secure. |
| 146 | 151 | |
| 147 | 152 | ## Your Rights |
| 148 | 153 | |
| 149 | 154 | Depending on where you are located, you have certain rights in relation to your Personal Data. You can access your Personal Data and confirm that it remains correct and up-to-date, choose whether or not you wish to receive material from us or some of our partners, and request that we delete or provide you with a copy of your Personal Data by logging into the Site, selecting 'Settings' from the dropdown in the top right, and scrolling down to find the appropriate option. The ability to delete an account may be disabled for some users, particularly those who are enrolled in for-credit offerings such as degrees, certificate programs, and other similar offerings. |
| 150 | 155 | |
| 156 | If you wish to opt-out of marketing communications, you may do so by using the unsubscribe mechanism in any marketing communication you receive, or by contacting us at privacy@coursera.org. If you register for an account on the Site, you can also change your email preferences in your account. | |
+ ADDEDNew explicit instructions for opting out of marketing Coursera added clear instructions on how to stop marketing emails: use the unsubscribe link, email privacy@coursera.org, or change email preferences in account settings. | ||
| 157 | ||
| 151 | 158 | If you would like further information in relation to your rights or would like to exercise any of them, you may also contact us via [privacy@coursera.org](mailto:privacy@coursera.org). If you reside or are located in the EEA, UK, Switzerland, or other region that offers similar protections, you have the right to request that we: |
| 152 | 159 | |
| 153 | 160 | - provide access to any Personal Data we hold about you; |
| 154 | 161 | - cease the processing of your Personal Data for direct-marketing purposes; |
| 155 | 162 | - update any Personal Data which is out of date or incorrect; |
| 156 | 163 | - delete any Personal Data which we are holding about you; |