Does Brave Search share data with advertisers or third parties and under what conditions?
Executive summary
Brave Search says it does not collect identifiers that can link queries to individuals or devices and “never profiles” users; it records ad clicks/views in an anonymized way and uses opt‑in programs (Web Discovery Project, P3A) to collect aggregated or anonymous data [1] [2] [3]. Brave also shares minimal data when users explicitly enable features (Rewards, Sync, custodial payouts) or when business partners provide data, and it documents circumstances where it may disclose data to fulfill user intent or legal obligations [4] [5] [6].
1. Brave’s core claim: no identifiable search profiles
Brave’s published policies assert that Brave Search “does not collect any identifiers that can link a search query to an individual or their devices,” and the company repeatedly says it “never profiles its users” [1] [7]. Brave frames measurement as anonymous or aggregated—stating it can count queries without knowing who made them—and it uses privacy‑preserving analytics (P3A) to understand product usage without handing raw user identifiers to third parties [7] [3].
2. Advertising measurement: clicks and views are recorded, but Brave says they’re anonymous
Brave Search records clicks and views of ads to measure effectiveness; its privacy notice insists “no personal data is processed” and that measurement data “cannot be linked back to individuals or their devices” [2]. Advertisers and advertiser terms are part of Brave’s ecosystem; Brave operates a search‑ads platform with advertiser policies and a separate Advertiser Privacy Policy that governs how ad data is handled [8] [2].
3. Opt‑in programs and when data leaves the client
Brave’s Web Discovery Project and other opt‑ins explicitly send anonymous contributions about searches and page visits to improve the index—these are opt‑in mechanisms rather than default behavior [4] [9]. Brave also emphasizes that the only ways it stores user data are when users enable Rewards or Sync, or create premium/search API accounts—actions that by design involve sharing more data [4] [9] [1].
4. Custodial partners, Rewards payouts and “express user intent”
When users connect Brave Rewards to custodial crypto accounts, Brave says it keeps only the absolute minimum data on servers and “share[s] no data except when required to fulfill express user intent,” such as completing payouts via third‑party providers [5]. Separate Brave documentation signals that business partners may share data with Brave and that in some product flows Brave processes and may share end‑user data with advertisers or partners to provide services—though the context and safeguards are described unevenly across documents [6] [5].
5. Independent scrutiny and regulatory context
The National Advertising Division (NAD) found Brave’s implied claim that it “does not share personal data with third parties” supported by its practices—because Brave says it does not store search logs or know who its users are—but the NAD also warned against unqualified promises of total protection [10]. That decision indicates outside bodies have evaluated Brave’s messaging and practices, and found core privacy claims defensible while flagging overbroad marketing language [10].
6. Where ambiguities remain in available reporting
Available sources do not provide full technical detail of every data flow (for example, whether any transient metadata might be accessible to third‑party infrastructure providers in specific edge cases), and they do not publish exhaustive logs of what business partners share with Brave in commercial integrations—Brave’s own policy language says partners sometimes share data and that Brave may process and share de‑identified or other data [6] [1]. Brave’s public materials emphasize de‑identification, P3A and client‑side protections, but independent audits and precise technical specifications are not fully detailed in the cited pages [7] [3].
7. Practical takeaway for users and advertisers
If you use Brave Search with default settings and do not opt into Rewards, Sync, WDP, or premium accounts, Brave’s documentation says search queries are not stored or linkable to you and that ad metrics are anonymized [1] [2]. If you enable Rewards payouts, connect custodial accounts, subscribe to premium services, or opt into the Web Discovery Project, you should expect some level of data exchange with third parties to fulfill those services [5] [4] [9].
Limitations: this analysis is limited to the documents and excerpts supplied by your search set; available sources do not mention any internal incident logs, third‑party audits beyond a referenced SOC 2 attestation, or the full technical implementation of de‑identification and anonymization systems [7].