Interesting 
The fact that this was umbrella’d under a pre-existing setting that we already had on (it’s off now) is downright sneaky.
Also the fact that I only found out about this via the “Apology Letter,” which never would have been sent if there wasn’t major backlash.
I’m the Super Admin on our account and I’m listed as needing to receive important account updates and I never saw the original update announcement until this morning.
Before this morning I would have described myself as a HubSpot apologist. Now I think we should start looking at other platforms.
I want to know how we can be absolutely certain that none of our data has already been co-opted by HubSpot.
I also took the opportunity to turn off the “Use your data to train our AI models” setting which was conveniently auto opted in as well.
A huge thank you to the HubSpot teams for the speed of this fix and for the clarity of this mea culpa. This is a rare approach that deserves to be commended.
If I may humbly offer a nuance, I believe that the community’s very strong reaction goes beyond the simple framework of a communication error or a lack of clarity regarding opt-in. For many of us, the choice of HubSpot was made from the outset based on a deep ethical alignment: the promise of Inbound, which places respect and data privacy at the center of everything. Our CRM databases are our most valuable and confidential assets.
The fact that this data pooling and extraction project could have been approved and planned internally creates, despite the backtracking, a fundamental concern. It gives the impression that the company’s ethical compass temporarily favored network value over the absolute data isolation that had been promised to us.
The cancellation is an essential first step, but to rebuild the trust of your historic community, it will likely be necessary to formalize strict and irreversible legal guarantees in the Data Processing Agreement (DPA). Thank you again for continuing to listen to your early adopters. Sincerely thank you!
Thank you all for the thoughtful feedback and commentary here. We’re reading each response, we’re listening and we will work hard to earn back your trust. I’ve asked the team to dig into a few of these questions specifically.
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We understand your frustration. We got this wrong and welcome the chance to connect with you directly if you’re open to it (feel free to shoot me a DM and I can get that set up). Rebuilding trust with our customers is extremely important to us.
The data in your CRM belongs to you. We should have made that clearer before this ever came on your radar, and we didn’t sufficiently do that. That’s on us, and I hope our actions in coming months will help rebuild that trust with you.
You’ve been a loyal customer for a decade, and that means a lot to us. We want the opportunity to earn back your trust and would love to talk with you directly to answer your questions and be sure you feel confident in your future with HubSpot. Shoot me a DM and I’m happy to set up a call.
Thank you for this thoughtful feedback, Anton. While the feature was always designed to be opt in, we quickly realized this wasn’t enough to meet our own standards for transparency.
You’re right that we could have communicated this better, and we’re sorry about that.
What we can commit to going forward: before any future changes that affect your data, we will communicate early, clearly, and across multiple channels. That’s a direct commitment from this post.
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We broke your trust, and we know we will need to earn it back. I want to reassure you that your data belongs to you. This hasn’t changed. We would love to set up a call so you feel confident to use the tool and know that your data is safe. Shoot me a DM and I’m happy to set that up!
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts! We’re happy to partner with you!
This is a good one to clarify. When we heard from customers that this change wasn’t landing as intended, we moved quickly to reverse it and paused the email rollout as part of that decision. The follow-up note was sent only to those who received the original email. That’s why not every Super Admin received it.
We’d welcome the chance to connect directly to walk through exactly what activity occurred in your account and answer any remaining questions. Drop me a DM and I’m happy to arrange a call!
You’re right that the reversal is a first step, not a finish line. The promise HubSpot was built on, that your data is yours, that we’re here to help you grow, is exactly what’s at stake. After listening to customers and partners, we had not met the trust bar we set for ourselves. And we will continue to work hard to earn back your trust.
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Hey there - we took a look at your account and don’t believe this feature was ever activated. Perhaps you’re looking at a different setting? We’ve sent you a DM - feel free to reply and we can look into it!
Don’t forget Section 6.5(ii) of the Product Specific Terms that also give them the right to use all enrichment data as a part of their commercial data set (undefined).
I really appreciate the transparency here. Admitting that something didn’t go as planned and clearly explaining the next steps helps rebuild trust. Listening to community feedback and acting on it is exactly what users hope to see, so thanks for taking the feedback seriously and communicating the changes openly.
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