company

Notion Labs

Productivity and knowledge-management software company offering integrated notes, docs and databases. Notable controversies include user data residency questions for China-based users, AI training-data integration concerns, and 2024-25 enterprise pricing changes.

Track Record

Notion published default AI training-data policy committing to no customer data used for model training without explicit opt-in

Jun 15, 2024

Notion's revised AI policies published in 2024 committed by default to not using customer workspace content for foundation-model training, requiring explicit per-workspace opt-in for any training-data sharing. The policy contrasted with default-on AI integration approaches taken by Dropbox, Slack and others in the same period and was praised by privacy advocates including the EFF.

+ Corporate Transparency + User Privacy + User Autonomy

Sources: Notion

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Notion blocked all China-based users in September 2023, citing inability to comply with PIPL data localization rules

Sep 26, 2023

On September 26, 2023 Notion Labs blocked all access from mainland China IP addresses, citing inability to comply with China's Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) requirements around data localization without compromising the service's core architecture. The decision affected an estimated millions of Chinese users including students, knowledge workers and independent creators who had used Notion under sustained workarounds. Notion did not provide a transition path, data export reminders or grace period before the cutoff.

- Infrastructure Accountability - Knowledge Access & Information Freedom - Open Internet & Web Freedom

Sources: TechNode