How to Build a GDPR-Compliant Web Scraper With Playwright in 2026

Web scraping and GDPR compliance seem like opposites. One collects data at scale. The other limits what data you can collect. But here is the thing: they are not mutually exclusive. I have been building scrapers professionally for 4 years. Here is what I have learned about making them GDPR-compliant. The Core Problem Most scrapers are built to collect everything. GDPR says you can only collect what you need, for a specific purpose, with legal basis. This creates 3 practical constraints: Data minimization: only scrape fields you actually use Purpose limitation: know WHY you are scraping before you build Legal basis: you need one of 6 reasons to process personal data Step 1: Define Your Legal Basis First Before writing a single line of Playwright code, answer this: what is your legal basis under GDPR Article 6? For most B2B scraping: Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)): valid for publicly posted professional data Contract performance: if user asked you to fetch their own data Public inter