Google Fonts
Millions of websites load fonts directly from Google’s servers, sending every visitor’s IP address to Google without consent. Munich Regional Court I awarded damages for this in 2022.
The judgment
On 20 January 2022, Munich Regional Court I ordered a website operator to pay €100 in damages because loading Google Fonts remotely had transmitted the claimant’s IP address to Google without consent (case 3 O 17493/20). This was followed by large numbers of legal demand letters, many themselves abusive. The underlying issue remains.
The solution: host fonts locally
- 1Download the script – Download them from Google Fonts or use a helper that also provides the matching CSS.
- 2Put files on your own server – WOFF2 is sufficient. Older formats are no longer needed for current browsers.
- 3Include them in CSS using @font-face – Use
font-display: swapso text appears immediately. - 4Remove all references to fonts.googleapis.com – Remove remote font references from themes and website builders too; they often hide there.
A useful side effect: faster loading
Local fonts avoid an external connection, including DNS lookup and encryption setup. On a phone, that can save several hundred milliseconds. Resolving the privacy issue can also make the page faster.
Suitable tools
Further in Legal & privacy
- Legal notice – Who needs a legal notice, what it must contain and the mistakes that can lead to legal demands.
- Privacy policy – What Article 13 GDPR requires and why generic templates rarely fit.
- Embedding YouTube and Google Maps – Both can set cookies before anyone clicks. What this means and how the two-click approach works.