Simplenews privacy policy

Simplenews Privacy Policy adds required privacy-policy acceptance to Simplenews subscription forms, with one shared policy or a policy tailored to each newsletter category.

Features

Simplenews Privacy Policy adds privacy-policy acceptance to subscription forms provided by Simplenews. It helps website owners ask newsletter subscribers to confirm that they have read and accepted the applicable privacy policy before subscribing.

• Adds a privacy-policy acceptance checkbox to Simplenews subscription forms.
• Disables the subscription submit button until the checkbox is selected.
• Validates acceptance on the server so the form cannot be submitted without consent.
• Supports one privacy policy shared by all newsletter categories.
• Supports a different privacy policy for each newsletter category.
• Supports newsletter category hierarchies managed by Simplenews Multiple.
• Allows child newsletter categories to inherit the privacy policy configured on their parent category.
• Provides a route for displaying the privacy policy associated with a newsletter category.
• Uses Drupal text fields and text formats to render category-specific policy content.

This module is useful for websites that collect newsletter subscriptions and need subscribers to explicitly acknowledge privacy information before joining a mailing list. Typical use cases include:

• A website with several newsletters that all use the same privacy policy.
• A website with different privacy notices for different newsletters or audiences.
• A website using hierarchical newsletter categories where related categories share a common policy.
• Organizations that want a clear privacy-policy link directly in their newsletter subscription forms.

This module adds an acceptance step to the subscription process. It does not replace a site's legal privacy policy, consent management platform, data retention process, or other legal compliance procedures.

Post-Installation

After installing and enabling the module, go to Configuration > Web services > Simplenews > Subscription. A new Privacy policy section is added to the Simplenews subscription settings.

You can choose between two configuration modes:

One policy for all newsletter categories

Enable Apply the same privacy policy to all newsletter categories and enter the internal URL of the page containing the shared privacy policy. For example:

/privacy-policy

If no URL is entered, the module uses /newsletters/privacy-policy by default. The module does not create this shared policy page, so the site must provide a page or route at the configured URL.

A policy for each newsletter category

Disable Apply the same privacy policy to all newsletter categories. The module then uses the privacy_policy field on the relevant parent term in the newsletter taxonomy vocabulary.

When the module is installed, it creates the privacy_policy long-text field on the newsletter vocabulary and adds it to the default taxonomy term form and view displays. Enter the policy text on parent newsletter terms. Child terms inherit the policy from their direct parent and should not have separate policy text.

When a subscription form has an applicable policy, the module displays a checkbox containing a link to the policy. Category-specific policies are available at the following route:

/newsletters/{newsletter}/privacy-policy

The module renders the policy using the text format stored with the field. If a subscription form cannot resolve an applicable category policy, no privacy-policy checkbox is added.

Additional Requirements

This module requires:

• Drupal 10.6 or later, or Drupal 11.
• Simplenews 4.1 or later.
• Simplenews Multiple 1.x.

The Drupal core Taxonomy and Text modules are also required. No external libraries are required.

Recommended modules/libraries

Simplenews Multiple is required when using newsletter category hierarchies and category-specific privacy policies. It provides the parent and child newsletter taxonomy structure used by this module.

No additional libraries are required. The module is designed to work with the standard Simplenews subscription forms and workflows.

Similar projects

Simplenews provides the core newsletter functionality, including newsletter management, subscriber management, subscription forms, and email delivery. It does not provide the privacy-policy acceptance functionality added by this module.

Simplenews Multiple adds hierarchical newsletter categories and multi-category newsletter management. It provides the category structure used by this module, but it does not add a privacy-policy acceptance checkbox or validate acceptance during subscription.

General consent-management or compliance modules may provide broader consent workflows across a website. Simplenews Privacy Policy is specifically focused on privacy-policy acceptance during Simplenews newsletter subscriptions and on displaying the policy associated with a newsletter category.

Supporting this Module

There are currently no Patreon, OpenCollective, or other public funding links associated with this project.

Bug reports, feature requests, and other contributions are welcome through the Simplenews Privacy Policy issue queue.

Community Documentation

The module's README.md documentation includes installation instructions, configuration details, newsletter hierarchy rules, and information about the available policy routes.

For general newsletter configuration and subscription management, see the Simplenews project documentation. For hierarchical newsletter categories, see the Simplenews Multiple project documentation.

Additional support is available through the project issue queue.

Additional Information

The module is licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later.