Privacy, with clear choices.

We aim to give users meaningful control over their information while maintaining the accountability, authenticity and safety that make Media.com useful.

Our approach is based on four principles.

You should be able to understand and manage important privacy settings associated with your Media.com account.

We should explain what information Media.com collects, why it is used and the choices available to you.

Media.com should collect and retain personal information that is reasonably necessary for legitimate platform, security, verification, legal and product purposes.

Verification helps establish who is behind an account, while privacy controls determine what information needs to be visible publicly.

The Media.com Privacy Policy explains how Media.com handles personal information.

It covers matters including:

• information you provide to Media.com;
• information generated when you use Media.com;
• account and profile information;
• Verification information;
• age-assurance information;
• security information;
• payment information;
• advertising and measurement data;
• device and technical information;
• how information is used;
• when information may be disclosed;
• service providers;
• international data handling;
• retention;
• privacy rights;
• requests and enquiries; and
• other matters concerning Media.com handling of personal information.

The Privacy Policy is the authoritative legal document governing Media.com own processing of personal information.

Media.com is a publishing platform.

Information you intentionally publish to a public profile or publication may be visible to other users and, where applicable, to people outside Media.com.

This may include information such as:

• your profile name;
• username or handle;
• profile image;
• biography;
• organization affiliation;
• publications;
• comments;
• public interactions;
• Newsroom content;
• Official Statements; and
• other information you choose to make public.

Before publishing information publicly, consider whether you are comfortable with that information being viewed, shared or referenced by others.

Information being publicly visible does not give other users unlimited permission to misuse it.

Media.com Privacy & Personal Information Rules may prohibit conduct such as:

• doxxing;
• malicious publication of private information;
• disclosure of sensitive identity information;
• publication of financial credentials;
• disclosure of private contact information in harmful circumstances;
• threatening to expose personal information; or
• other serious privacy abuses.

Media.com may use VERIFIED or other approved verification processes to establish information about an individual or organization.

Verification may involve information that is not displayed publicly.

For example, Media.com may verify a person legal identity while allowing the person public profile to use an appropriate verified professional or public identity.

Verification is intended to establish specified facts about identity or authority.

It does not mean that:

• identity documents are publicly displayed;
• a user private information becomes public;
• Media.com endorses the user;
• Media.com guarantees the user publications are accurate; or
• every piece of verified information must appear on the user profile.

Where Media.com displays a verification indicator, the indicator should communicate only the verification status or attribute Media.com intends it to represent.

Media.com may use age-assurance measures to determine whether a person satisfies relevant age requirements.

Age assurance and identity verification are related but different processes.

Depending on the circumstances, age assurance may involve methods such as:

• date-of-birth information;
• age estimation;
• verified identity information;
• third-party age-assurance services;
• digital identity services; or
• other appropriate methods.

Media.com should seek to minimise the amount of age-assurance information retained where a simpler age or threshold result is sufficient.

For example, in some circumstances Media.com may only need to know that a user is:

• under the relevant age threshold;
• 16 or older;
• under 18; or
• 18 or older,

rather than retaining unnecessary underlying information.

Media.com may provide privacy and account controls that allow you to manage aspects of your experience.

Depending on the features available to your account, these may include controls concerning:

• profile visibility;
• contact information;
• who can interact with you;
• messaging;
• blocked accounts;
• notification settings;
• security;
• connected services;
• advertising preferences; and
• other privacy choices.

The settings available may differ according to account type, age, jurisdiction and the Media.com features you use.

Where Media.com provides comments, messages or other interaction features, users should respect the privacy and safety of others.

Do not use Media.com interactions to:

• obtain private information through deception;
• pressure someone to disclose sensitive information;
• publish private communications maliciously;
• threaten to expose someone else personal information;
• share authentication credentials;
• facilitate identity theft; or
• otherwise violate Media.com privacy or safety Rules.

Other Rules may apply depending on the conduct involved, including Bullying & Harassment, Impersonation & Identity Abuse, Fraud & Criminal Activity, Youth Safety and Privacy & Personal Information.

Media.com supports journalism, public-interest reporting, criticism and open discussion.

That means users may sometimes publish information about identifiable people.

However, legitimate expression does not create unlimited permission to expose another person private or sensitive information.

The Privacy & Personal Information Rules determine when publication or use of personal information may violate our standards.

The assessment may consider matters such as:

• whether the information is genuinely public;
• the sensitivity of the information;
• consent;
• how the information was obtained;
• public-interest value;
• journalism;
• safety risk;
• malicious intent;
• whether the person is a minor;
• whether the information facilitates fraud, stalking or harm; and
• other relevant context.

Doxxing generally involves exposing or aggregating personal information in circumstances intended or reasonably likely to facilitate:

• harassment;
• intimidation;
• stalking;
• fraud;
• identity theft;
• physical harm; or
• another serious privacy or safety risk.

The fact that individual pieces of information may be obtainable somewhere publicly does not necessarily make malicious aggregation or harmful redistribution acceptable.

If you believe someone has exposed personal information about you in violation of our Rules, you can report it.

Some information can create greater privacy or safety risks.

Depending on context, Media.com may provide heightened protection for information such as:

• home addresses;
• precise private locations;
• private phone numbers;
• private email addresses;
• government identification numbers;
• passports and identity documents;
• financial account information;
• payment credentials;
• passwords and authentication information;
• private medical information;
• information concerning minors;
• intimate personal information;
• private communications;
• biometric information; or
• other highly sensitive personal information.

Public-interest, legal and journalistic context may affect how particular information is treated.

Media.com supports legitimate journalism and public-interest reporting.

Privacy Rules should not be used automatically to remove:

• reporting on matters of public importance;
• information contained in legitimate public records;
• reporting concerning public officials;
• court or regulatory information;
• corporate accountability reporting;
• documented misconduct;
• historical information; or
• other material with legitimate public-interest value.

At the same time, public-interest reporting does not create an automatic exception for unnecessary disclosure of highly sensitive information.

Media.com may consider whether the privacy intrusion is reasonably connected to the public-interest purpose of the publication.

Where identity, age or organization documents are required, Media.com should design its systems to minimise unnecessary access and retention.

Where appropriate, Media.com may rely on:

• a verification result;
• age threshold result;
• provider confirmation;
• verified attribute; or
• another limited outcome

instead of retaining unnecessary copies of underlying documents.

The Media.com Privacy Policy explains the legally applicable treatment of personal information.

Where Media.com supports Support, Memberships, paid content, Creator Monetization, Media Ads, subscriptions or other payments, payment information may be processed by Media.com and approved payment providers.

Media.com should minimise unnecessary storage of sensitive payment credentials where payment providers can securely process that information.

Payment eligibility, restrictions and financial integrity are governed separately by our commercial standards.

Where Media.com provides advertising, the use of information for advertising and measurement should comply with applicable privacy requirements and our advertising standards.

Media.com may restrict the use of:

• sensitive personal information;
• information concerning minors;
• custom audience data;
• uploaded customer information;
• behavioural or profiling information; or
• other data

for advertising where required by law or by our standards.

Advertisers do not gain access to private conversations merely because they advertise on Media.com.

Users under 18 may receive additional privacy and safety protections.

Media.com may apply different:

• account defaults;
• interaction settings;
• advertising protections;
• age-restricted content controls;
• commercial restrictions;
• data practices; or
• safety measures

to younger users.

A user being permitted to hold a Media.com account does not mean they are treated as an adult.

Protect your Media.com account by using available security features.

Media.com may provide security controls such as:

• secure sign-in;
• multi-factor authentication;
• session management;
• account recovery;
• security alerts; or
• other account-protection features.

Do not share authentication credentials with people who are not authorised to access your account.

If you believe your account has been compromised, use our account recovery or support process promptly.

If someone gains unauthorised access to your account, Media.com may take steps such as:

• securing the account;
• ending active sessions;
• requiring password changes;
• requiring re-verification;
• temporarily restricting sensitive features; or
• investigating unauthorised activity.

Activity undertaken by an unauthorised person should not automatically be attributed to the legitimate account holder where Media.com can reasonably establish that the account was compromised.

Depending on where you live and applicable law, you may have rights concerning your personal information.

These may include rights to request:

• access;
• correction;
• deletion;
• restriction;
• objection;
• portability; or
• other privacy-related action.

The rights available to you and any applicable limitations are explained in the Media.com Privacy Policy.

Media.com may allow eligible users to request deletion of their account.

Deleting an account does not necessarily require immediate deletion of every record.

Media.com may need to retain limited information where reasonably necessary for matters such as:

• legal obligations;
• security;
• fraud prevention;
• disputes;
• payments;
• enforcement;
• appeals; or
• other legitimate purposes.

The Privacy Policy explains applicable retention practices.

You can report suspected privacy abuse through our reporting tools.

You may be able to report issues involving:

• doxxing;
• private contact details;
• identity documents;
• financial information;
• hacked information;
• sensitive medical information;
• private locations;
• threats to expose information;
• information concerning a minor; or
• other serious privacy concerns.

A report does not itself establish that a violation occurred.

Media.com will assess the available context under the applicable Rules and Policies.

Media.com may receive legally valid requests for information from courts, law-enforcement agencies, regulators, government authorities or other legally authorised bodies.

Such requests should be handled under our applicable legal-request processes and the law.

Media.com should not disclose user information merely because someone identifies themselves as an authority.

Where appropriate, requests should be assessed for:

• legal validity;
• scope;
• authority;
• jurisdiction;
• proportionality; and
• applicable privacy obligations.

There may be circumstances where Media.com uses or preserves information to:

• protect users;
• investigate fraud;
• respond to serious safety threats;
• secure compromised accounts;
• enforce our Rules;
• respond to legal obligations; or
• support appeals and investigations.

The fact that information is used internally for a legitimate safety or security purpose does not mean that it becomes public.

The Privacy & Personal Information Rules govern how users may publish, disclose or use personal information about other people on Media.com.

They address matters including:

• doxxing;
• harmful disclosure;
• identity information;
• private contact details;
• financial information;
• hacked or stolen information;
• location information;
• private communications;
• consent;
• journalism;
• public-interest reporting;
• public records;
• information concerning minors;
• reporting;
• enforcement; and
• appeals.

These Rules are different from the Media.com Privacy Policy.

The Privacy Policy governs how Media.com handles your information. The Privacy & Personal Information Rules govern how users may treat personal information on Media.com.

As Media.com develops new products, privacy should be considered as part of product design rather than added only after launch.

Relevant principles include:

• collecting information for defined purposes;
• minimising unnecessary data;
• limiting internal access;
• providing appropriate user controls;
• applying appropriate security;
• separating public and private information;
• protecting sensitive information;
• limiting retention where appropriate;
• considering the needs of minors;
• designing verification with privacy in mind; and
• reviewing privacy implications when new products are introduced.