You probably know by now that General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) from the European Union is going to take effect on 25th May 2018. The GDPR applies to organizations located in both inside and outside EU countries who interact with the EU residents. So, it’s about time when WordPress releases a GDPR focused update v4.9.6.

To learn more about GDPR, you can checkout our more detailed article.

Core GDPR related features in WordPress 4.9.6

• Cookie control in comments
• Privacy Policy page creation
• Data handling (export and removal tools)
• Email notification for data request confirmation

Control cookie while commenting

The unregistered users or logged-out users will now have a choice to decide if their name, email and website address will be saved in their browser cookie while commenting on a site. This facilitates a greater control over the users’ private data.

Privacy Policy page

Site owners can now add a privacy policy page which will be shown on site login and registration pages. You’ll find this privacy policy page creation option from Dashboard > Settings > Privacy.

WordPress also advises all the site owners to add a privacy policy page link to every page on their site. They suggest to put it into the footer.

Data export and erasing tools

As an admin of a WordPress site, you can now easily export any user’s personal data to a ZIP file using the Data Export Tool. You also have the ability to erase any user’s personal data permanently. All of these are possible with WordPress 4.9.6.

Along with privacy, this release includes 37 enhancements, 51 bug fixes, and 2 tasks. Find the highlighted features below:

A quick glimpse at other important features

• “Mine” filter added to the media library to let individuals sort their uploads.
• Upon viewing a plugin in the admin, required PHP version will be shown from now on.
• PHP polyfills for forwards-compatibility and variable validation added.
• TinyMCE updated to latest version (4.7.11)

An update guideline has been published by the WordPress development team that provides technical information regarding this update (v4.9.6). You can download and install the update right from the Dashboard > Updates menu in your admin area or browse the release archive.

Important: It’s advised to make your website GDPR compliant before 25th May 2018. In case of a breach, if any platform is not GDPR compliant, the platform owner might be charged a fine up to 4% of annual turnover or 20 million euros. To learn more about GDPR, visit our detailed article.