The PDPL and its provisions do not apply to you if you process personal data for family or personal purposes.
Article 2 (2) of the PDPL
The scope of applying the PDPL excludes processing of the individual’s Personal Data or purposes that do not go beyond personal or family use, as long as the individual did not publish or disclose it to others.
What is personal or family use?
Personal or family use means that an individual processes personal data within his/her family or limited social circles, which is not connected to any professional or commercial use. This does not include the publishing of personal data to a public domain or disclosing the same to anyone outside the family or personal use. This means that you are not required to comply with the PDPL if you use personal data for purely personal and family purposes. Specific types of such use depend on the context. It may include, for example:
1. communicating with relatives, friends, colleagues and other persons for personal purposes, not associated with your work;
2. taking pictures or recording videos for personal purposes; and
3. recording and sharing contact details of other individuals for personal purposes.
Example | Personal or family use | Processing outside the scope of PDPL
A group of friends celebrate a birthday in a restaurant in Dammam. During the celebrations, the friends took pictures of each other and recorded videos. Later they posted these pictures and videos on various social media networks for their own personal purposes. The pictures and videos are considered as personal data of the persons who were in these pictures and videos.
In this case, taking photos, recording videos and posting them on social media networks will not be within the scope of the PDPL.
Example | Personal or family use | Processing within the scope of PDPL
A popular blogger regularly travels all over the world and makes posts about his trips. Sometimes, he posts photos of the Kingdom’s hotels and restaurants that he visits, which also contain images of others (for example, personnel of hotels and restaurants). The blogger receives payments from these hotels and restaurants for publishing such content on social media networks.
In this case, publishing photos is linked to the professional and commercial activities of the blogger. Thus, taking photos and posting them will be within the scope of the PDPL.