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Crowdsignal, formerly Polldaddy, is a United States based poll, survey and quiz platform operated by Automattic Inc. and embedded directly into websites. Every embedded poll or survey sets cookies to stop the same person voting twice and to remember a respondent, and it collects the answers people submit, which can include personal or sensitive information. Because these cookies are non essential and the responses are personal data, Crowdsignal must load and set its cookies only after the visitor has given consent.
Crowdsignal, formerly known as Polldaddy, is a poll, survey and quiz platform operated by Automattic Inc. in the United States. It lets teams create interactive polls, surveys, quizzes and rating widgets and embed them directly on a website or share them through a link. The widget loads its code from Crowdsignal servers and renders inside the host page, where visitors can vote or answer questions in place.
When a visitor interacts with an embedded poll or survey, Crowdsignal sets cookies on the device to stop the same person voting more than once and to remember them as a respondent between visits. It also collects the answers people submit to polls, surveys and quizzes, along with technical details such as the time of the response. Because survey and quiz questions are open ended, the responses can include free text and questions that reveal personal or sensitive information about the respondent.
The voting identifiers and survey responses that Crowdsignal processes are personal data under the GDPR, because they relate to an identifiable respondent. Writing and reading cookies on the visitor device also falls within Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive, which the CNIL in France, the German authorities under the TDDDG and the AEPD in Spain all enforce as a strict prior consent obligation for non essential trackers such as the duplicate vote prevention and respondent cookies.
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Consent is required before Crowdsignal sets its cookies, because they are not strictly necessary for the visitor to receive the content of the page. That consent must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous under Article 6(1)(a) GDPR, and it must be as easy to refuse as to accept. Until the visitor accepts, the embedded widget should not write cookies to the device, and where responses include personal data the respondent should be told how that data will be used before submitting.
Automattic Inc. processes Crowdsignal data on United States infrastructure, so European respondent data is transferred outside the European Economic Area. Such transfers require the EU Standard Contractual Clauses 2021/914 within the Automattic Data Processing Agreement and a documented Transfer Impact Assessment that considers United States surveillance law, in line with the Schrems II ruling and the guidance of the European Data Protection Board.
Gate the Crowdsignal embed behind your consent management platform so it fires only after the relevant cookie category is accepted. Describe Crowdsignal in your cookie policy, including the duplicate vote prevention cookie and the respondent identifier and their lifetimes. Sign the Automattic Data Processing Agreement, complete a Transfer Impact Assessment and apply the shortest workable retention on responses. Keep survey and quiz questions to what is strictly necessary and avoid special category data unless you have an explicit legal basis for it.
Websites using Crowdsignal must obtain user consent under GDPR regulations.
DPIA considerations
A Data Protection Impact Assessment is advisable when Crowdsignal is used at scale or when surveys and quizzes ask questions that can reveal sensitive information such as health, opinions or identity. Document the cookies set by the embedded widget, including the duplicate vote prevention cookie and the respondent identifier, the survey and quiz responses collected, the transfer of data to the United States and the retention period applied to responses. Configure the embed so that it loads only after consent, keep survey questions to what is strictly necessary and avoid collecting special category data unless an explicit legal basis is in place.
Sample consent text
We use Crowdsignal, a poll and survey service operated by Automattic Inc. (United States), to collect your answers to polls, surveys and quizzes. Crowdsignal sets cookies on your device to prevent duplicate voting and to remember you as a respondent, and it stores the answers you submit. This data may be transferred to the United States under the EU Standard Contractual Clauses. Crowdsignal will only load if you click Accept.
Third-party domains contacted
crowdsignal.comapi.crowdsignal.comapp.crowdsignal.comsecure.polldaddy.comCookies placed
| Name | Type | Duration | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| pd_vote | HTTP cookie (third party) | 1 month | Records that the device has already voted in a specific poll so that Crowdsignal can prevent the same person from voting more than once in that poll. |
| crowdsignal_respondent | HTTP cookie (third party) | 12 months | Stores a persistent respondent identifier so Crowdsignal can remember a person between visits and associate their responses across polls and surveys. |
| pd_session | HTTP cookie (third party) | Session | Maintains the current interaction session with the embedded poll or survey so that answers submitted during a single visit are grouped together. |
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Crowdsignal sets cookies to stop the same person voting more than once in a poll, a persistent respondent identifier that remembers a person for about twelve months, and a session cookie that groups the answers submitted during a single visit. These cookies are non essential trackers.
Yes. Crowdsignal writes non essential cookies to the respondent device and collects survey responses, so under the ePrivacy rules you must obtain prior consent before the widget sets its cookies. The embed should stay blocked until the visitor accepts.
The valid legal basis is consent under Article 6(1)(a) GDPR, combined with the prior consent requirement of Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive for the cookies. Legitimate interest cannot be used for these non essential trackers or for response data that may include sensitive information.
Yes. Crowdsignal is operated by Automattic Inc. and hosts its platform on United States infrastructure, so European respondent data is transferred there. You need the EU Standard Contractual Clauses 2021/914 in the Automattic Data Processing Agreement and a Transfer Impact Assessment to cover the transfer.
A Data Protection Impact Assessment is recommended when Crowdsignal is used at scale or when surveys and quizzes ask questions that can reveal sensitive information. Assess the cookies set on the device, the response data collected, the retention applied and the United States transfer.
Load the embed only through your consent management platform after the relevant category is accepted, describe Crowdsignal in your cookie policy, sign the Automattic Data Processing Agreement and complete a Transfer Impact Assessment. Keep survey questions to what is necessary and apply a short retention period on responses.
Alternatives include Typeform, SurveyMonkey, Google Forms, Jotform and LimeSurvey. They raise similar consent, cookie and transfer questions, so evaluate their hosting location and data processing terms before assuming any of them is lighter on privacy. A self hosted option such as LimeSurvey can keep data in the European Union.
Add a dedicated entry that names Crowdsignal and Automattic Inc. as the provider, lists the duplicate vote prevention cookie and the respondent identifier with their lifetimes, explains the survey responses collected, and discloses the United States transfer and its safeguard. Keep the entry in step with your consent categories.