Socialgist privacy policy

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This Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) describes how Effyis, Inc. d/b/a Socialgist and its subsidiaries and affiliates (collectively, “Socialgist,” “us,” “we,” or “our”) may collect, use, and share your personal information and the rights and choices you have with respect to your personal information.

This Privacy Policy applies to individuals (“Users”) whose personal information is processed by Socialgist in connection with (i) our website located at socialgist.com and any other website or platform that links to this Privacy Policy (collectively, the “Website”), (ii) receiving our data services (“Services”), and (iii) our related email communications, social media pages, and the other services, product offerings, and features that we offer (collectively, and together with the Website and Services, the “Platform”). This Privacy Policy also applies to individuals (“Consumers”) whose personal information is contained in online social conversations Socialgist either monitors directly or receives from our content partners (e.g., message boards, web forums, blogs, news and consumer reviews, and social media platforms) (“Content”) in connection with providing our Services to clients.

Socialgist reserves the right, at any time, to modify this Privacy Policy. If we modify how we collect, use, or share personal information, we will post the updated Privacy Policy on this page. In some cases, we may notify you about an update by sending you an email, posting a notice about the update on the Platform, or other means as may be required by applicable law. In all cases, your continued use of the Platform following posting or other notification of changes constitutes your acknowledgement of such changes. Please review this Privacy Policy periodically to keep up to date on our most current policies and practices.

THE ENTITY MAINTAINING THIS WEBSITE IS A DATA BROKER UNDER TEXAS LAW. TO CONDUCT BUSINESS IN TEXAS, A DATA BROKER MUST REGISTER WITH THE TEXAS SECRETARY OF STATE (TEXAS SOS). INFORMATION ABOUT DATA BROKER REGISTRANTS IS AVAILABLE ON THE TEXAS SOS WEBSITE.

This Privacy Policy covers the following topics:

COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION AND OUR PURPOSES FOR PROCESSING
DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
YOUR RIGHTS AND CHOICES
RETENTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
SECURITY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
CHILDREN’S PRIVACY
OTHER SITES AND SERVICES
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR INDIVIDUALS IN EUROPE
CONTACTING US

COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Categories and Sources of Personal Information Collected and Processed About Consumers. We collect, and have collected in the past twelve months, the following categories of personal information about Consumers.

Individual Identifiers: such as alias or username/author, to the extent contained in the Content. We also collect name and email address, to the extent you provide such information when you contact us with questions or to exercise your privacy rights.
Commercial and Other Information: such as the contents of a posted review or other social conversation, where that information is linked to your Individual Identifiers in the Content that we collect.

We obtain Consumers’ information (1) from our direct monitoring of the website or forum where Content is posted, or (2) from our content partners.

Categories and Sources of Personal Information Collected and Processed About Users. We may collect, and have collected in the past twelve months, the following categories of personal information about Users, along with other personal information that is not specifically listed here, which we will use as described in this Privacy Policy or as otherwise disclosed at the time of collection:

Individual Identifiers: such as your name, business email, IP address, and device ID.
Professional Information: such as your organization’s name, mailing address, telephone number, and website URL, and your job title.
Marketing Preferences: such as preferences for receiving our marketing emails or details about how you engage with our communications.
Survey Responses: such as contact and other information you provide in response to our surveys or questionnaires.
Online Activity Information: such as information about your use of and actions on the Platform, such as the website you visited before browsing to the Website, pages or screens you viewed, how long you spent on a page or screen, navigation paths between pages or screens, information about your activity on a page or screen, timestamps of when you have opened or interacted with an email and other access times, and duration of access.
Device Information: such as your computer or mobile device operating system type and version number, wireless carrier, manufacturer and model, device identifier (such as Google Advertising ID or Apple ID for Advertising), browser type, screen resolution, IP address, and general location information such as city, state or geographic area.
Communications: such as the information you provide when you contact us with questions, feedback, or otherwise correspond with us.

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We obtain Users’ personal information from a variety of sources, including from the following sources:

Personal Information You Provide. Socialgist collects personal information when you voluntarily submit it to us, such as when you engage our Services, register for an account, or communicate with us. Unless we specifically request it, we ask that you not provide us with any sensitive personal information (e.g., information related to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion or other beliefs, health, biometrics or genetic characteristics, criminal background or trade union membership) on or through the Platform, or otherwise to us.
Personal Information Obtained from Third Parties. Socialgist may receive personal information from third parties, such as our marketing and advertising partners, affiliate networks, data analytics partners, publicly available sources, and data licensors/providers. We also maintain pages for our company relating to our Platform on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and other third-party platforms. When you visit or interact with our pages on those platforms, the platform provider’s privacy policy will apply to your interactions and their collection, use, and processing of your personal information. You or the platform may provide us with information through the platform, and we will treat such information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. We may merge or combine personal information received from third parties with the personal information we collect from you directly or automatically.
Referrals. Users may have the opportunity to refer contacts to us and share their contact information. Please do not provide us with someone’s contact information unless you have their permission to do so.
Personal Information Automatically Collected. Socialgist, our service providers, and our advertising partners may automatically log information about Users, their computer or mobile device, and a User’s activity over time on our Platform and other sites and online services, such as the online activity information and device information listed above. Like many online services, we use cookies and similar technologies to facilitate some of the automatic data collection described above, such as:
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- Cookies, which are text files that websites store on a visitor’s device to uniquely identify the visitor’s browser or to store information or settings in the browser for the purpose of helping you navigate between pages efficiently, remembering your preferences, enabling functionality, helping us understand user activity and patterns, and facilitating online advertising.
- Flash cookies, or locally-stored objects, which are used on websites for purposes similar to cookies but allow storage of a larger amount of data.
- Web beacons, also known as pixel tags or clear GIFs, which are typically used to demonstrate that a webpage or email was accessed or opened, or that certain content was viewed or clicked, typically to compile statistics about usage of websites and the success of marketing campaigns.
- Local storage, which is used to save data on a visitor’s device. We may use data from local storage for similar reasons as cookies, such as to store multimedia preferences, customize what we show you based on your past interactions with our Platform, remember your preferences, and measure ad effectiveness.

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USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION AND OUR PURPOSES FOR PROCESSING

We may use and process personal information collected for the purposes set forth below and as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy or at the time of collection.

To Provide the Services. Socialgist’s primary purpose in collecting Consumers’ personal information is to provide the Services to our clients. Socialgist’s primary purpose in collecting Users’ personal information is to provide the Platform and Services requested by our Users. For example, we use Users’ personal information to (a) establish, manage, monitor, and maintain accounts; (b) improve and personalize your experience on or with the Platform; (c) deliver the type of Content and product offerings that best suit your business needs; (d) verify your identity; (e) provide any surveys you participate in; (f) communicate with you about the Platform, including providing notices about your account, sending announcements, updates, or security alerts, and sending support or administrative messages; (g) respond to any of your requests, feedback, or questions; (h) provide maintenance and support for the Platform; and (i) fulfill any other purpose for which you provide personal information.
Research and Development. We use personal information for research and development purposes, including to study and improve the Platform and our business, understand and analyze the usage trends, demographics, and preferences of our Users, and develop new features, functionality, products, and services.
Compliance and Protection. We will use personal information as we believe necessary or appropriate to (a) comply with applicable laws, lawful requests, and legal process, such as to respond to subpoenas or requests from government authorities; (b) protect our, your, or others’ rights, privacy, safety or property (including by making and defending legal claims); (c) audit our internal processes for compliance with legal and contractual requirements and internal policies; (d) enforce the terms and conditions that govern the Platform; and (e) prevent, identify, investigate, and deter fraudulent, harmful, unauthorized, unethical or illegal activity, including cyberattacks and identity theft.

We may also create de-identified information from personal information in a manner that it cannot reasonably be used to infer information about, or otherwise be linked to, a particular individual. For example, in some cases our client may request that we de-identify certain personal information collected about Users when providing our Services. To the extent that we classify such information as “de-identified,” we commit to maintaining and using such information in a de-identified form and to not attempting to re-identify such information (except for purposes permitted by law).

We do not use personal information for profiling Consumers or Users in order to make decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects.

Use of and Purposes for Processing Consumers’ Personal Information. Socialgist’s primary purpose in collecting Consumers’ personal information is to provide the Services to our clients. Socialgist may also use Consumers’ personal information to respond to privacy rights requests or other communications, for the purposes set forth above, or as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy. To the extent the Content contains sensitive personal information (as defined under applicable state privacy laws), we do not collect or use it for the purpose of inferring characteristics about California residents.

Use of and Purposes for Processing Users’ Personal Information. Socialgist’s primary purpose in collecting personal information is to provide the Platform and Services, as further described above. We may also use a User’s personal information for the following purposes:

Individual Identifiers: such as your name, business email, IP address, and device ID.
Professional Information: such as your organization’s name, mailing address, telephone number, and website URL, and your job title.

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We obtain Users’ personal information from a variety of sources, including from the following sources:

Send Marketing Emails. We may send you newsletters and other promotional communications as permitted by law, including materials, updates, information, special offers, and promotional material from us and our business partners. You may opt-out of our marketing communications as described in the “Your Rights and Choices” section below.
With Your Consent. We will disclose your personal information in accordance with your prior direction or, in some cases, we may specifically ask you for your consent to collect, use, or share your personal information, such as when required by law.

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DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Disclosures for Business Purposes. In addition to the specific situations discussed elsewhere in this Privacy Policy or at the point of collection, we may disclose (and in the past twelve months may have disclosed) any of the personal information described above to the entities or persons described in this section.

Related Companies. We may share your personal information with our parent company, affiliates, subsidiaries, and other companies under common corporate control, for purposes consistent with this Privacy Policy.
Service Providers. We may share your personal information with third parties who perform services on our behalf that are necessary for the orderly operation of our business. For example, we work with service providers that help us perform website hosting, email delivery, database management, analytics, fraud protection, marketing, finances, and other purposes.
Professional Advisors. We may share personal information with persons, companies, or professional firms providing Socialgist with advice and consulting in legal, tax, financial, insurance, and other matters, where necessary in the course of the professional services that they render to us.
Authorities and Others for Compliance and Protection. We may disclose your personal information for the compliance, fraud prevention, and safety purposes described in this Privacy Policy, including in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with a legal obligation. Under certain circumstances, this may include law enforcement, government authorities, and other parties if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., a court or a government agency).
Business Transaction Participants. We may disclose personal information to third parties in connection with any business transaction (or potential transaction) including, for example, a merger, acquisition, sale of shares or assets, financing, consolidation, reorganization, divestiture, or dissolution of all or a portion of our business (including in connection with a bankruptcy or similar proceedings).

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Disclosures of Consumers’ Personal Information for Commercial Purposes. In addition to the contexts described above or elsewhere in this Privacy Policy, we disclose (and in the past twelve months may have disclosed) any personal information contained in the Content, including Consumers’ Individual Identifiers and Commercial or Other Information, to clients of our Services (to the extent the Content contains Consumer personal information) for their own use. For example, our clients may be monitoring how a particular product or service is being reviewed online, or monitoring posts for law enforcement purposes.

These disclosures may be considered a “sale” of personal information under US privacy laws because we receive monetary or other valuable consideration in exchange for these disclosures. Consumers can opt-out of these disclosures as described below in the section called “Your Rights and Choices.” We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of California residents under 16 years of age.

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YOUR RIGHTS AND CHOICES

Your Privacy Rights. This section describes the rights you may have under applicable US privacy laws depending on the state where you live, and how to exercise them. As of the “Last Updated” date above, for example, these rights apply to residents of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. Please note, these rights are not absolute, and, in some cases, we may not be able to respond to your request, such as when a legal exemption applies or if we are not able to verify your identity.

Right to Know: You have the right to request that we confirm whether we process your personal information or, in some cases, to disclose to you what categories of personal information we have collected about you, the categories of sources from which we collected your personal information, the business or commercial purpose for which your personal information was collected, sold, shared, or disclosed, and whether and how we share, disclose and/or sell your personal information to third parties.
Right to Access/Data Portability: You have the right to request a copy of the personal information we have collected about you.
Right to Delete: You have the right to request that we delete the personal information we have about you.
Right to Correct: You have the right to request that we correct inaccurate personal information that we maintain about you.
Right to Opt-Out of Sales: You have the right to request to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties.
Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights, for example, by charging a different price or denying goods or services.

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Process for Submitting Privacy Rights Requests. If you wish to request to exercise any of these rights you may submit a request by emailing us at privacy@socialgist.com.

At this time, we do not use any cookies or similar technologies on our Website for sales or targeted or cross-context behavioral purposes. Thus, if you broadcast the Global Privacy Control signal when visiting our Website, it will have no effect because the data collected from these technologies is already opted-out by default. Further, due to technological limitations and the nature of the Consumer personal information that we process for the Services, at this time all Consumer opt-out requests must be submitted using the email address listed above. Further, we will consider a Consumer’s opt-out of sales request to be a request pursuant to California’s “Shine the Light” law to stop sharing your personal information covered by that law with third parties for their direct marketing purposes. We do not disclose Users’ personal information obtained through our Services to third parties for their direct marketing purposes and, accordingly, have no obligations under California’s Shine the Light law as it concerns how we process Users’ personal information.

Consumers submitting a request must include any social media handles or usernames to which they want the request to apply. This is required because personal information contained in the Content will be linked to these handles or usernames, and we will not be able to process requests that do not allow us to link your request to applicable records contained in the Content.

Upon receiving a request to know/access, delete, or correct, we are required to verify your identity. To do this, we may need to request certain information from you so that we can, for example, match it to the personal information we maintain in our systems. We try to respond to all legitimate requests to know/access, correct, or delete within 45 days of your request. Occasionally it may take us longer than 45 days to respond, for instance if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you of the delay and may continue to update you regarding the progress of our response.

You may also designate an authorized agent to submit a request on your behalf. If you do so, we may require proof that you gave the agent signed permission to submit the request. In some cases, we may also require you to verify your identity directly with us, to directly confirm with us that you provided the authorized agent with permission to submit the request, or to take other steps required or permitted by privacy laws.

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal information (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee or decline to comply with your request if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive, or excessive.

Your Right to Appeal Privacy Rights Decisions. If you wish to appeal our denial of your request, you may email us at privacy@socialgist.com. We will process your appeal in accordance with applicable state privacy law.

Nevada Opt-Out. Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 603A allows Nevada residents to opt-out of the “sale” of certain types of personal information. Subject to several exceptions, Nevada law defines “sale” to mean the exchange of certain types of personal information for monetary consideration to another person. If you are a Nevada resident who wishes to exercise your “sale” opt-out rights, please submit your request to us using the contact information listed above with the subject line “Nevada opt-out request.”

Your Choices. In addition to the rights above, Users can make the following choices regarding their personal information.

Review and Request Changes to Your Account Information. In some cases, if you have registered for a certain type of account with us, you may be able to review and request to update certain personal information in your account profile by submitting a support ticket or emailing us at privacy@socialgist.com.
Opt-Out of Marketing Emails. Users may opt-out of marketing-related emails by clicking the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the email or by contacting us as provided at the end of this Privacy Policy. You may still receive service-related and other non-marketing communications.
Control Cookies & Browser Web Storage. Most browsers let you remove and/or stop accepting cookies from the websites you visit. To do this, follow the instructions in your browser’s settings. Many browsers accept cookies by default until you change your settings. If you do not accept cookies, however, you may not be able to use all functionality of the Platform and it may not work properly. For more information about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set on your browser and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org. Similarly, your browser settings may allow you to clear your browser web storage.
Google Analytics. The Website may use Google Analytics to help us analyze how the Website is being accessed and used. You can learn more about Google Analytics cookies by clicking here and about how Google protects your data by clicking here. To opt-out of Google Analytics, you can download and install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, available here.

Do Not Track. Some browsers may be configured to send “Do Not Track” signals to the online services that you visit. We currently do not respond to “Do Not Track” or similar signals. To find out more about “Do Not Track,” please visit http://www.allaboutdnt.com.

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RETENTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We will retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purpose of collection, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements, to establish and defend legal claims, for fraud prevention purposes, or as long as required to meet our legal obligations. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your personal information, the purposes for which we process your personal information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

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SECURITY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is fully secure. While we use reasonable efforts to protect your personal information from the risks presented by unauthorized access or acquisition, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information.

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INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Socialgist is based in the United States, and we have service providers in the United States and potentially other countries. Your personal information may be collected, used, and stored in these countries or other locations outside of your home country. Privacy laws in the locations where we handle your personal information may not be as protective as the privacy laws in your home country. By providing your personal information, where applicable law permits, you specifically and expressly consent to such transfer and processing and the collection, use, and disclosure set forth herein.

European individuals can view the section below titled “Additional Information for Individuals In Europe” for more information about the cross-border transfer of personal information.

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CHILDREN’S PRIVACY

The Platform is not intended for use by anyone under the age of 18, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18.

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OTHER SITES AND SERVICES

The Platform may contain links to other websites and online services operated by third parties. These links are not an endorsement of, or representation that we are affiliated with, any third party. In addition, our content may be included on web pages or online services that are not associated with us. We do not control third party websites or online services, and we are not responsible for their actions. Other websites and services follow different rules regarding the collection, use, and sharing of your personal information. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of the other websites and online services you use.

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR INDIVIDUALS IN EUROPE

The information provided in this section applies only to individuals in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, and Switzerland (collectively, “Europe”). Except as otherwise specified, references to “personal information” in this Privacy Policy are equivalent to “personal data” governed by European data protection legislation.

Controller. The controller of your personal information covered by this Privacy Policy for purposes of European data protection legislation is Effyis, Inc., 1050 Wilshire Drive, Suite 118, Troy, Michigan 48098, USA.

Legal Bases for Processing. The legal bases of our processing of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy will depend on the type of personal information and the specific context in which we process it. However, the legal bases we typically rely on are set out in the table below. We rely on our legitimate interests as our legal basis only where those interests are not overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or our processing is otherwise required or permitted by law). If you have questions about the legal basis of how we process your personal information, please contact us using the contact information listed at the end of this Privacy Policy.

Your Choices. In addition to the rights above, Users can make the following choices regarding their personal information.

Review and Request Changes to Your Account Information. In some cases, if you have registered for a certain type of account with us, you may be able to review and request to update certain personal information in your account profile by submitting a support ticket or emailing us at privacy@socialgist.com.
Opt-Out of Marketing Emails. Users may opt-out of marketing-related emails by clicking the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the email or by contacting us as provided at the end of this Privacy Policy. You may still receive service-related and other non-marketing communications.
Control Cookies & Browser Web Storage. Most browsers let you remove and/or stop accepting cookies from the websites you visit. To do this, follow the instructions in your browser’s settings. Many browsers accept cookies by default until you change your settings. If you do not accept cookies, however, you may not be able to use all functionality of the Platform and it may not work properly. For more information about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set on your browser and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org. Similarly, your browser settings may allow you to clear your browser web storage.
Google Analytics. The Website may use Google Analytics to help us analyze how the Website is being accessed and used. You can learn more about Google Analytics cookies by clicking here and about how Google protects your data by clicking here. To opt-out of Google Analytics, you can download and install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, available here.

PROCESSING PURPOSE

(as described above in the “Use of Personal Information and Our Purposes for Processing” section)

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Research and Development
Processing is based on our legitimate interests in performing research and development as described in this Privacy Policy.

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Compliance and Protection
Processing is necessary to comply with our legal obligations or based on our legitimate interests in protecting our or others’ rights, privacy, safety, or property.

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Consumer Personal Information:

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Provide the Services
Processing is based on our legitimate interest in providing the Services to our clients as described in this Privacy Policy.

User Personal Information:

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Provide the Platform and Services
Processing is necessary to perform the contract governing our operation of the Platform and Services, or to take steps that you request prior to engaging our Services. Where we cannot process your personal information as required to operate the Platform and Services on the grounds of contractual necessity, we process your personal information for this purpose based on our legitimate interests as further described in this Privacy Policy.

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Interest-Based Advertising
Processing is based on your consent where that consent is required by applicable law. Where we rely on your consent you have the right to withdraw it any time in the manner indicated when you consented or via the relevant Services.

Send Marketing Emails
Where such consent is not required by applicable law, we process your personal information for this purpose based on our legitimate interests in promoting our business and providing you with tailored, relevant content.

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With Your Consent
Processing is based on your consent. Where we rely on your consent you have the right to withdraw it any time in the manner indicated when you consent or via the relevant Services.

Use for New Purposes. We may use your personal information for reasons not described in this Privacy Policy where permitted by law and the reason is compatible with the purpose for which we collected it. If we need to use your personal information for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and explain the applicable legal basis.

Your Rights. European data protection laws may give you certain rights regarding your personal information. You may ask us to take the following actions in relation to your personal information that we hold:

Access. Provide you with information about our processing of your personal information and give you access to your personal information.
Correct. Update or correct inaccuracies in your personal information.
Port. Transfer a machine-readable copy of your personal information to you or a third party of your choice.
Restrict. Restrict the processing of your personal information.
Object. Object to our reliance on our legitimate interests as the basis of our processing of your personal information that impacts your rights.

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You may submit these requests by contacting us at the email address provided at the end of this Privacy Policy. We may request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and process your request. Applicable law may require or permit us to decline your request. If we decline your request, we will tell you why, subject to legal restrictions. If you would like to submit a complaint about our use of your personal information or our response to your requests regarding your personal information, you may contact us or submit a complaint to the data protection regulator in your jurisdiction. In the European Economic Area, you can find your data protection regulator here. In the United Kingdom, you can find your data protection regulator here.

Cross-Border Data Transfer. If we transfer your personal information to a country outside of Europe such that we are required to apply additional safeguards to your personal information under European data protection laws, we will do so. Please contact us at the email address provided at the end of this Privacy Policy for further information about any such transfers or the specific safeguards applied.

CONTACTING US

If you have any questions or concerns about our Privacy Policy or any other privacy or security issue, please contact us at privacy@socialgist.com.