Why Are Google Fonts Problematic?

What Are Google Fonts?

“Fonts” refers to typefaces. These typefaces define the design and appearance of text. Under the name “Google Fonts,” Google provides numerous typefaces free of charge. This is one of the reasons why their use on websites is so widespread.

What’s the Problem with Google Fonts?

Fundamentally, it’s not the typefaces themselves but rather where they’re loaded from that creates the problem. Most website operators don’t host the fonts themselves but instead embed them dynamically through Google.

What’s the Technical Background?

When you visit a website, various content is loaded from the website’s server. This includes images, text, and also fonts. Often, the content doesn’t come from just one server but from several different ones.

When Google Fonts is used, fonts are frequently loaded directly from Google’s servers, while images, text, and other website content usually come from the operator’s server. When accessing these resources, the user’s IP address is also transmitted.

The fonts are needed to display text on a website. They are loaded immediately when the page is accessed. This results in communication with the servers of a US company - Google - without the user’s prior consent.

According to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), US companies are not considered trustworthy. For personal data to be processed on servers in the United States, the website visitor must first consent to this process. Since IP addresses also qualify as personal data, loading the fonts violates the GDPR.

What Can Be Done?

The simplest solution to this problem is to host the fonts on your own servers. In this case, website visitors no longer need to establish a connection to Google’s servers - and the IP address is no longer transmitted outside the EU. The CMS systems used to create and maintain websites offer various technical options to implement this solution. It makes sense to engage an expert and make the changes as quickly as possible before receiving a warning letter yourself.

If you need support with this task or are unsure whether your website violates the regulation, feel free to contact us.