Does your business use WeTransfer? Watch out: don't lose control of your data!

Contract Law, Privacy Law

21 August 2025

Does your business use WeTransfer? Watch out: don’t lose control of your data!

Stelt u zich eens voor: u werkt al jaren met dezelfde zelfstandige. Hij stuurt facturen, factureert btw en heeft een eigen kvk-nummer. Toch krijgt u in 2026 ineens vragen van de Belastingdienst over de aard van uw samenwerking. Hoe heeft het zo ver kunnen komen?

Do you, as an entrepreneur, sometimes share confidential files via a file-transfer service such as WeTransfer? Then there is legal news you should not miss! From 8 August 2025, WeTransfer applies new general terms and conditions, which grant WeTransfer broader rights over everything you upload. These terms were already quietly changed on 23 June 2025, but users were not properly informed about this.

This blog explains what the new WeTransfer terms mean for your files and how you can keep control yourself.

What was in the small print?

In the first version of the amended terms, WeTransfer obtained the right to:

Use your files for AI applications (such as training models);
Reproduce, distribute and adapt them;
Make them public, even without any compensation to the owner.

After much uproar, the terms were amended again. In the current version, applicable from 8 August 2025, it now states that WeTransfer may use your files “to operate, develop and improve our services”.

Why is this problematic?

Although the new general terms and conditions are worded more generally, they remain vague and broad. It is unclear which files fall under this and what exactly “develop and improve” entails.

For you as an entrepreneur, this means that confidential information may possibly be used more broadly than you would expect, without you having any further influence over it.

WeTransfer effectively becomes the owner of your files, whether you want that or not. That is then the accompanying hidden price for using their (free) services.

Keep control over your files!

The lesson is clear: no longer send confidential or strategic information via public file-transfer services such as WeTransfer.

Instead, choose a solution where you retain control and ownership of your files yourself. This prevents important documents from unintentionally ending up in the wrong hands or being reused without your consent.

Things to watch out for are:

Secure access: services with password protection;
Temporary availability of documents, and thus a retention period after which those documents are destroyed by the service provider;
Transparency and notifications when files are opened or shared;
Read the privacy statement on the website and check carefully whether they process the documents (containing personal data) in it in a manner other than merely storing, retaining and forwarding them between you and the addressee, and then check which legal bases for processing they rely on;
Where is the service provider established, within the EEA or outside it – this matters for GDPR compliance;
Read the general terms and conditions carefully with regard to AI, use of your data, and the GDPR.

Do you need advice on securely sharing documents or on legal risks around digital data exchange? The privacy lawyers at The Legal Company are happy to help. Feel free to contact us via info@thelegalcompany.nl or call 020-3450152.

De afgelopen jaren stonden in het teken van de Wet VBAR, het wetsvoorstel dat een einde moest maken aan onduidelijkheid over de zzp’er. Het kabinet heeft delen van dat voorstel inmiddels geschrapt. Op het eerste gezicht is dat goed nieuws: minder regels, minder administratieve last. Maar in de praktijk blijven dezelfde toetsen overeind.

“De inhoud van de samenwerking is leidend, niet wat er op papier staat.”

De Belastingdienst handhaaft sinds 1 januari 2025 weer actief op schijnzelfstandigheid. En recente uitspraken van de Hoge Raad bevestigen dat rechters strikt toetsen of er sprake is van ondergeschiktheid en gezagsverhouding.

Voor uw praktijk betekent dit drie dingen. Een: leg de samenwerking duidelijk vast, met aandacht voor de inhoud. Twee: voorkom dat een zzp’er feitelijk werkt als werknemer. Drie: wees voorbereid op een controle, en weet hoe u de relatie kunt herzien als dat moet.

Heeft u vragen over uw concrete situatie? Wij sparren dagelijks met opdrachtgevers over hun zzp-relaties. Vraag een offerte op of bekijk onze Legal Safe abonnementen.