Articles on: Podscan Data Platform

Podcast Data, Transcripts, and Legal Compliance

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Podscan is not a law firm and does not provide legal counsel. You should consult your own legal and compliance advisors regarding your specific circumstances and obligations.



How Podscan Accesses Podcast Data


Podcasting is a public distribution medium. When a podcast creator publishes an episode, they distribute it via an RSS feed — an open, standardized format designed to be consumed by any application or service. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Overcast, and thousands of other apps all access the same public feeds.


Podscan accesses podcast content the same way any podcast app does: by reading publicly available RSS feeds and downloading published episodes. There is nothing private, restricted, or hidden about the content Podscan processes.


Specifically:


  • Podscan self-identifies as a bot in accordance with the IAB Podcast Measurement Technical Guidelines v2.1, so podcast hosts and publishers can identify and account for our requests.
  • Each episode is downloaded exactly once — Podscan does not engage in excessive crawling or repeated downloads.
  • Podscan does not re-host, redistribute, or make original audio files available to users. The audio remains under the publisher's control on their hosting platform.
  • Podscan honors podcast:block and similar RSS exclusion signals. If a creator indicates they do not want their show indexed, Podscan respects that preference.




All transcripts on Podscan are generated independently by Podscan's own transcription and analysis system. Podscan never copies, scrapes, or republishes transcripts created by someone else.


Podscan's transcription serves a transformative purpose: converting audio content into structured analytical data — including entity extraction, topic classification, sentiment analysis, demographic insights, and searchable metadata. This is fundamentally different from the podcast's original purpose of entertainment, education, or storytelling delivered through audio.


This is analogous to how search engines index web pages. A search engine processes the full content of a web page in order to make it discoverable, analyzable, and useful in a completely different context than the original publication. Podscan does the same for podcast audio.


Depending on their subscription plan, Podscan users may access full transcript text or analytical excerpts. In both cases, the primary purpose is research, monitoring, and business intelligence — not a substitute for listening to the original podcast. Podscan's analytical outputs do not compete with or replace the podcast listening experience.


This is an evolving area of law. Podscan actively monitors legal developments and adapts its practices accordingly to maintain compliance with applicable legal standards.



Personally Identifiable Information (PII)


All information that Podscan extracts and presents comes exclusively from publicly available sources:


  • RSS feed metadata — show names, episode titles, descriptions, host names, and any contact information that the podcast creator chose to publish in their feed.
  • Publicly broadcast episode audio — transcribed by Podscan from episodes that are freely available to any listener worldwide.
  • Publicly available social media profiles — only when linked directly from the podcast's RSS feed by the creator themselves.


Podscan does not access private data sources, paywalled content, or pre-publication material. When Podscan's entity extraction identifies people, companies, or topics, it is identifying information that was discussed publicly on a public broadcast.


Podscan does not access any information before it is made public by its publisher.



Non-Public Information and Financial Compliance (MNPI)


For compliance teams at financial institutions, investment firms, and regulated entities, this is a common and important question: does podcast transcript data from Podscan constitute material non-public information (MNPI)?


No. Podcast episodes are publicly available globally the moment they are published via RSS. When Podscan ingests an episode, that same episode is simultaneously available to every podcast app and every listener worldwide. There is no informational advantage — Podscan processes the same content that is already publicly accessible.


Key points for compliance teams:


  • No embargo-breaking. Podscan does not access episodes before their public release date.
  • No early access. Podscan does not have privileged access to any podcast feeds or content.
  • No private feeds. Podscan processes only publicly available RSS feeds.
  • Public media source. Podcast transcript data from Podscan is derived from a public media source, analogous to processing publicly available news articles, television broadcasts, or press conferences.
  • Data provenance. Podscan can provide documentation confirming the public source URL and timestamp of ingestion for any piece of data upon request.


We recommend that you consult your own compliance team regarding your specific regulatory obligations and internal policies for using third-party data sources.



Content Removal and Takedown Process


Podscan provides a reliable, fast, and complete content removal process for podcast creators and rights holders.


Who can request removal:

  • Podcast creators and show owners
  • Rights holders with a legitimate claim to the content
  • Individuals with privacy concerns about content in which they appear


What can be removed:

  • Specific episodes
  • Entire podcast shows and all associated data


How it works:

  • Submit a removal request to support@podscan.fm
  • Requests are processed promptly, and content is made unavailable immediately upon processing
  • No justification is required — if you want your content removed from Podscan, we will remove it


Supported reasons include (but are not limited to):

  • DMCA takedown notices
  • Personal preference
  • Privacy concerns
  • Any other reason


Podscan also proactively honors podcast:block and similar RSS exclusion signals, so creators can prevent indexing before it occurs.



For Podscan Users: Data Licensing


All data accessed through Podscan — whether via the platform interface, REST API, Firehose API, webhooks, exports, or bulk downloads — is licensed, not sold, under the Podscan Terms of Service.


Key restrictions:


  • You may not redistribute, resell, sublicense, or share Podscan data with third parties.
  • You may not use Podscan data to train AI or machine learning models without explicit written permission from Podscan.
  • You may not create derivative databases from Podscan data.
  • Commercial use requires an active, paid subscription.


For full details, see Section 10 (Data Licensing and Usage Restrictions) of the Terms of Service.



Questions?


For compliance inquiries, data provenance requests, content removal, or any other legal or compliance questions, contact us at support@podscan.fm.


Related resources:


Reminder: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult your own legal counsel for advice specific to your situation.


Updated on: 10/02/2026

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