Public data license

Your rights to use our public data

Last updated: 07 March 2025

These terms govern the use of public data made available by YouGov plc and our affiliates (“we,” “us,” or “our”) on our websites. By accessing or using the data, you agree to comply with these terms.


1. License grant

We provide the data available on our public websites (the "Licensed Data") under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. For full details, refer to the CC BY-NC 4.0 License.

You may:

✅ Use, share, and adapt the Licensed Data for non-commercial purposes (e.g. academic research, journalism, critique, personal blogs, and newsletters).
✅ Modify and remix the Licensed Data, as long as you provide appropriate attribution to us and a link to the original data source. Any modified or remixed work must be licensed under the same terms as this license (CC BY-NC 4.0).

✅ Use Licensed Data in non-commercial editorial content (including social media posts, blogs and newsletters) without prior approval, provided proper attribution is included, and a link to the original source (YouGov) is maintained to ensure compliance with our industry codes (see Section 3).

✅ Use Licensed Data in commercial journalistic content (for example news reporting and articles in subscription-based media), provided the use is for standard reporting and does not involve republishing full datasets or materially replacing our core services. Any media partnerships or paid commercial use remain subject to the terms of a separate agreement with YouGov.

You may NOT:

❌ Use the Licensed Data for purely commercial purposes (e.g., resale, AI model development, or integration into commercial datasets) without our prior written consent.
❌ Remove or alter any attribution or disclaimers associated with the Licensed Data.
❌ Imply our endorsement based on your use of the Licensed Data.

  1. Additional restrictions on AI & automated data extraction

While the Licensed Data is available under CC BY-NC 4.0, the following additional restrictions apply:

  • AI model training & machine learning. You may not use the Licensed Data to train, fine-tune, or develop artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), or large language models (LLMs).
  • Automated scraping & crawling. You may not use bots, crawlers, or automated scripts to extract or copy the Licensed Data without our express written permission.
  • Aggregation into commercial datasets. You may not incorporate the Licensed Data into any dataset, database, or repository for commercial AI applications, predictive analytics, or resale.

These restrictions are independent of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license and apply to any use of the Licensed Data.

  1. Attribution requirement 

If you use Licensed Data (including blogs, newsletters, or journalistic reports), you must:

  • Include the following attribution:

"Source: YouGov plc, [Year], © All rights reserved"

  • Maintain a link to the original YouGov source. This applies to all online use, including social media shares where linking is possible.

  1. Accuracy & compliance with industry standards

As a market research business, YouGov is subject to industry codes which require that all published data is accurate and not misleading. Accordingly:

  • Users must ensure that any publications utilising the Licensed Data accurately reflect the original research findings.
  • If YouGov becomes aware of an inaccurate or misleading use of its data, it reserves the right to issue corrective statements and require that inaccuracies be rectified.

  1. Text and Data Mining (TDM) opt-out

We explicitly reserve our rights to opt out of text and data mining (TDM) for machine learning purposes. Any use of the Licensed Data for automated data mining is prohibited unless expressly authorised.

We reserve the right to update and enforce our opt-out mechanisms in compliance with evolving legal and regulatory frameworks governing AI, data mining, and automated data collection.

  1. Enforcement & compliance

Access controls: We may use technical measures (e.g., robots.txt, API rate limits, metadata directives, access restrictions and CAPTCHA protections) to prevent unauthorised access and/or use of our data.

Legal action: If you violate these terms, we reserve the right to revoke your license, block access, and take appropriate legal action.

  1. Contact & permissions

If your intended use falls within the permitted non-commercial activities outlined in these terms, you do not need to seek permission. This includes personal blogs, unpaid newsletters, academic research, and standard journalistic reporting.

For commercial use requests or AI-related permissions, please contact us at legal@yougov.com.

  1. Changes to these terms

We reserve the right to modify these terms at any time. Changes will be effective upon posting to our website. Continued use of the Licensed Data after modifications constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.