noyb

What noyb does

noyb (none of your business), formally NOYB - European Center for Digital Rights, is an Austrian-registered non-profit association (Verein) founded in June 2017 by privacy activist and lawyer Max Schrems and headquartered in Vienna. The organization employs more than 20 legal and IT experts and operates as a strategic litigation NGO that enforces GDPR and ePrivacy rights on behalf of individuals across all 32 EU/EEA jurisdictions. Since filing its first cases on 25 May 2018 (the day GDPR took effect), noyb has filed 888 total cases, has 439 pending matters, and its enforcement actions have contributed to approximately €2 billion in regulatory fines imposed on violating companies.

noyb's core products are legal services rather than software. Its primary technology platform is GDPRhub, a free, community-editable wiki covering all 32 GDPR jurisdictions, supported by a daily newsletter (GDPRtoday) and a secure whistleblower intake tool (OnionShare). The organization's technology stack is intentionally minimal and focused on security and privacy: internal servers for website and membership systems, with no proprietary AI, commercial SaaS product, or external API. Mass complaint operations rely on 'half-automated' templated workflows rather than AI-assisted legal analysis.

The revenue model is donation- and membership-driven, not transactional. noyb derives approximately €400K annually from over 5,100 individual supporting members paying voluntary recurring or one-time fees, supplemented by institutional members (City of Vienna, AK Wien, BMASGPK), corporate sponsors (DuckDuckGo, DialogMail), and project grants from foundations. By design, no single funder contributes more than 10% of revenue, supporting independence. Services are free to data subjects, and the organization channels its impact through DPA complaints, direct court actions, and increasingly collective redress mechanisms under EU Directive 2020/1828.

Name

noyb

Legal name

NOYB - European Center for Digital Rights (NOYB - Europäisches Zentrum für digitale Rechte)

Website

https://noyb.eu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

noyb is a Vienna-based non-profit founded in 2017 by Max Schrems that enforces GDPR and ePrivacy rights through strategic litigation across 32 EU/EEA jurisdictions, funded by over 5,100 supporting members, institutional donors, and foundation grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Privacy Rights Enforcement

akta.pro primary industry

Data Protection, Privacy & Cybersecurity Regulators (BPAIAOAH)

Keywords

• Privacy rights enforcement
• GDPR litigation services
• Data protection advocacy
• Digital rights nonprofit
• Privacy law compliance

Headquarters

HQ city

Vienna

HQ country

Austria

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Supporting Member Fees: Recurring membership fees from over 5,100 supporting members who contribute annually, quarterly, biannually, or on a one-time basis. Members can choose their contribution amount and payment interval.
2. Individual Donations: One-time donations from individuals who want to support privacy enforcement work. These are tax-deductible in Austria.
3. Institutional Member Contributions: Some institutional members contribute membership fees at higher amounts, including organizations like City of Vienna and Austrian Chamber of Labour.
4. Project and Foundation Funding: Additional funding from foundations and organizations for specific projects and long-term operations.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

noyb (None of Your Business) is a Vienna-based non-profit organization that enforces EU data protection laws, primarily the GDPR, through strategic litigation. The organization files complaints with national Data Protection Authorities and pursues cases in courts on behalf of individuals whose privacy rights have been violated by commercial companies. It also operates GDPRhub, a free public wiki that documents GDPR decisions and commentary across 32 EU/EEA jurisdictions.

Product overview

noyb is a donation-funded NGO (European Center for Digital Rights) that provides strategic litigation services to enforce GDPR and ePrivacy laws across Europe. The organization's primary platform offering is GDPRhub - a wiki for GDPR decisions and knowledge sharing. noyb does not offer a commercial SaaS product or technology platform; its services consist of legal enforcement actions, complaints filing, and public resources like GDPRhub.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• GDPRhub: A free and open wiki platform that allows anyone to find, edit and share GDPR insights from across Europe in English, including the latest DPA and court decisions.
• GDPRtoday

Products and services

• GDPRhub A free and open wiki platform that allows anyone to find, edit, and share GDPR insights from across Europe in English, including the latest decisions from Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) and courts, GDPR article commentary, DPA profiles, and profiles of all 32 GDPR jurisdictions (EU + EEA).
• Strategic Litigation and Complaint Filing Services Free legal representation and complaint filing service on behalf of individuals whose GDPR and data protection rights have been violated by commercial companies. Includes filing complaints with Data Protection Authorities, pursuing standard-setting cases before the CJEU and EDPB, and coordinating mass proceedings across multiple jurisdictions.
• GDPRtoday Newsletter A newsletter providing daily summaries of GDPR decisions directly to subscribers, helping legal professionals, academics, and the public stay current on data protection case law.
• Supporting Membership Program A subscription-based supporting membership program with tiered contribution levels (Basic, Silver, Gold, Purple) that provides members with welcome letters, merchandise, and privacy counseling hours. Over 5,100 individuals and institutions participate.

Quantifiable outcome

• €2 billion in fines imposed through noyb litigation
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered major, minor and core.

• Austrian Ministry for Social Affairs (BMASGPK)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2025Government institutional member providing support and funding to noyb's privacy enforcement mission.
• AK Wien (Austrian Chamber of Labour)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2024Institutional member and supporter of noyb, representing worker interests in digital rights protection.
• DuckDuckGominorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2024Privacy-focused search engine sponsor supporting noyb's mission to enforce data protection laws.
• City of ViennamajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2019Institutional supporter and member of noyb, providing funding and organizational support to the privacy enforcement NGO based in Vienna.
• Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (GFF)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2019German digital rights organization and voting member of noyb, part of the general assembly that elects the Board of Directors.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Access Now: International digital-rights NGO with a broader global (including non-EU) and free-expression focus, alongside privacy litigation and emergency-response support. Less centered on GDPR enforcement specifically than noyb, but operationally analogous as a donor-funded digital-rights advocate.
• European Digital Rights (EDRi): Brussels-based network of ~70 European digital-rights NGOs, including many of noyb's national partners. Acts as the umbrella advocacy/lobby body for the field and is broadly comparable to noyb's pan-European enforcement scope at a higher level of abstraction (network vs. single organization).
• Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT): US/Brussels-based policy and advocacy organization working on privacy, free expression, and digital rights. Comparable mission but policy/think-tank orientation rather than the litigation-driven enforcement posture that defines noyb.

Direct peers

• Bits of Freedom: Dutch digital-rights NGO that campaigns, litigates, and lobbies on privacy, freedom of communication, and government surveillance. Comparable scale, member-funded governance, and privacy-enforcement focus make it a close peer to noyb.
• Privacy International: UK-based charity that investigates and litigates government and corporate surveillance/privacy abuses. Directly comparable to noyb in non-profit privacy enforcement, strategic-litigation approach, and donor-funded operating model.
• La Quadrature du Net: French digital-rights advocacy association focused on privacy, freedom of expression, and net-neutrality litigation and policy advocacy. Directly comparable to noyb in Europe-wide litigation-driven privacy advocacy funded by member support.
• Big Brother Watch: UK civil-liberties NGO focused on privacy, surveillance, and data protection through campaigns and litigation. Comparable in member-funded non-profit structure, privacy-rights legal advocacy, and adversarial posture against state/corporate surveillance.
• Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF): US-headquartered but globally active digital-rights NGO with a strong strategic-litigation and legal-advocacy mandate. Closely comparable to noyb in mission (privacy enforcement), funding model (membership + donations), and operating approach (donor-funded NGO driving precedent-setting cases).
• Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (GFF): Berlin-based civil-rights NGO with strategic litigation as its primary tool, focused on digital rights and data protection. GFF is already a noyb voting/general-assembly member and partner (relationship listed in the data), making it the closest operational peer.

Others

• Future of Privacy Forum: US-based privacy think-tank that convenes industry, academics, and regulators rather than litigates. Thematically adjacent to noyb's work but not directly competitive; relevant as a complementary voice in the European/global privacy conversation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/noybeu
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCsoAl1dl_fwnrVLa8YNgbmw
• Facebookfacebook.com/noybeu
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/noybeu
• Instagraminstagram.com/noybeu
• TikToktiktok.com/@noyb.eu

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about noyb