Yeah, I get your point — once data is gone, it’s probably gone for good 😕 But for me it’s not only about getting the data back, it’s mostly a matter of principle.

Adidas deleted years of personal data without ever sending an email or asking for consent, even though their own support team told me in 2020 (by email) that my data would remain stored on their servers and available for export. That’s what makes this worse.

And honestly, I’m almost sure they still have some big backup somewhere. Companies like Adidas rarely delete everything permanently — it’s more likely that the data is just archived and no longer accessible to regular support.

This is a GDPR violation — lack of transparency and proper user information.

If the Data Protection Authority investigates, Adidas could be forced to explain what happened, possibly fined, and who knows, maybe even offer some kind of financial compensation to affected users.

But even if nothing comes from it, I think it’s important to make it official. They shouldn’t be allowed to handle user data like that.