Privacy Policy

Your privacy is critically important to us. At Storyful, we take our obligations in relation to privacy very seriously. We comply with the following privacy principles in relation to your personal data:

  • Obtain and process information fairly.
  • Keep it only for one or more specified, explicit and lawful purposes.
  • Use and disclose it only in ways compatible with these purposes.
  • Keep it safe and secure.
  • Keep it accurate, complete and up-to-date.
  • Ensure that it is adequate, relevant and not excessive.
  • Retain it for no longer than is necessary for the purpose or purposes.
  • Give a copy of his/her personal data to that individual, on request.

Below is our privacy statement which incorporates these principles.

Last updated: 18th January 2024

1. Introduction

This is the privacy and cookies statement (the “Statement”) for www.storyful.com including the mobile site, Storyful platform(s), applications and widgets associated with it, our products and our associated services (respectively, the Site and the Services). The Site is operated by Storyful Limited (“Storyful”, “we”, “us” and “our”). For the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation 2018, we are the data controller.

We are committed to protecting your privacy online. In this Statement we explain how we collect information, what we do with it and what controls you have. By using the Site, or by engaging with us in relation to our Services (including content creators who provide information in relation to content that they publish), you consent to the collection and use of your Personal Data in accordance with this Statement. Your “Personal Data” means any information relating to you in identified or identifiable form.

We reserve the right to change this Statement from time to time by changing it on the Site. This Statement was last updated on the date set out at the beginning of it.

The Statement describes the types of Personal Data we process, namely Personal Data of:

  1. Our suppliers (including content creators and licensors);
  2. Customers;
  3. Partners;
  4. Any visitors to our Site or otherwise in connection with our Services; and
  5. Certain data subjects where the personal data we process is data that has been made publicly available by the data subject (e.g. through public posts on social media platforms) at the time of collection.

The Statement also describes how we use that Personal Data, the bases upon which we collect it and with whom we share it. We also describe the measures we take to protect the security of Personal Data and how you can contact us about our privacy practices. The Services we provide are for a general audience, are not targeted to children, and we do not knowingly collect Personal Data from people that are 16 years of age or younger.

2. Information we may collect from you and the basis for collection

We collect Personal Data in order to offer Services that you have requested, where we legitimately believe there is an interest on your part in such Services, and/or where we believe Storyful has a legitimate interest in doing so, on the following bases:

  • in order to perform activities based on your consent (to the extent it is required by applicable law);
  • for the purpose of compliance with a contract to which Storyful is a party; or
  • as is necessary to fulfil an identified legitimate interest of Storyful, having regard to the requirement to balance that interest against the rights and freedoms of any affected data subjects, including, but not limited to:
    1. monitoring and improving our Services to our partners and potential partners; and
    2. managing the relationships we have with our current suppliers, customers and partners.

We may collect and process the following information, including Personal Data, about you:

  • information (such as your name, email address, social media details, postal address and telephone number) that you provide by completing forms on the Site or otherwise in connection with the Services including if you register as a subscriber or contributor to any service, upload or submit any material via the Site, request any information, or enter into any competition or promotion we may sponsor;
  • in connection with an account sign-in facility, your log-in and password details;
  • details of any transactions made by you through the Services;
  • details of your use of our Site and/or our Services;
  • communications you send to us, for example to report a problem or to submit queries, concerns or comments regarding the Site, its content or the Services.
  • information from surveys that we may, from time to time, run on the Site or as part of the Services for research purposes, if you choose to respond to, or participate in, them. You are under no obligation to provide any such information. However, if you should choose to withhold requested information, we may not be able to provide you with certain services;
  • to the extent that it is publicly available, information from public social media platforms such as your name and/or other online identifier, your email address, gender, location and relevant social media posts; and
  • in addition to the foregoing relating to publicly available information from social media platforms, we may add such Persona Data to a central relational database which may draw in data relating to individuals from different publicly facing social media platforms. For example, if we use content from a particular YouTube subscriber, that individual may be added to our central relational database and we may augment the relevant profile with information from other publicly available social media accounts that the individual might have (for example, their Twitter or Facebook accounts).

In respect of information gathered as a result of your use of our Site and or Services, your decision to use this Site and/or our Services and to provide that Personal Data, is voluntary. We indicate on our online forms, where applicable, what types of Personal Data are required, before you register to our Services and submit any Personal Data to us.

For more information about how and on what basis Storyful processes your personal data, please contact privacy@storyful.com setting out your query in reasonable detail.

3. Information you provide about third parties

Where information you provide, including content you submit to us, contains Personal Data of others, we may ask you to provide us with the details of your relationship with those individuals. We will only use those details to provide a description of your content, for verification purposes, or otherwise pursuant to terms agreed with you. By providing this information to us, you agree to our use of such information for these purposes. When you upload content to our Site, you warrant that you have permission from those individuals to appear in that content and for us to use their Personal Data in accordance with our agreement with you. You must not provide us with the details of anyone from whom you do not have such permission. We reserve the right to identify you as the person who has guaranteed that such individuals have given this permission.

4. Information obtained by automated means through our Services

When you visit the Site or as part of our Services we may automatically collect additional information about you, such as the type of Internet browser you use, any website from which you have come to the Site and your IP address (the unique address which identifies your computer on the Internet) which is automatically recognised by our web server. This information is only used to assist us in providing an effective service on the Site and to collect broad demographic information for aggregate use.

5. Cookies

Storyful makes use of a number of cookies in the provision of Our Services. For more information, please refer to our Cookie Notice.

Storyful provides certain of its services via a separate platform at https://intel.storyful.com/ known as Synopsis. The Synopsis Cookie Policy is available at https://intel.storyful.com/cookie-policy/.

6. Uses made of your information

We will use the information you provide to:

  • deliver you the Services and information offered through the Site or via the Services and which you request, including monitoring your use of the Site to assess your use preferences and/or to otherwise improve your user experience;
  • monitor your use of our Site, our products and our other Services in order to improve them;
  • administer your account with us;
  • audit the downloading of data from the Site;
  • improve the layout and/or content of the pages of the Site and customise them for users;
  • identify visitors to our Site;
  • carry out research on our users’ demographics and tracking of sales data;
  • fulfil contractual obligations to our clients, including where we are confident that the requesting client has itself established a legitimate interest in Storyful processing the relevant Personal Data on behalf of the client (and always subject to the terms and conditions of the relevant contract between Storyful and the requesting client);
  • process content, including Personal Data, that at the time of initial processing may or may not lead to an outreach to the data subject with a view to establishing legal relations and/or further processing said Personal Data on the basis of there being a legitimate interest or another other lawful bases to do so;
  • to provide our clients with aggregated data reports showing de-identified information regarding social media users’ expressed preferences and behaviours;
  • supplement your Personal Data and other information collected from you with additional information from publicly and commercially available sources, and/or information from Company affiliates and our business partners;
  • perform data analytics;
  • allow us and our partners to contact you directly to carry out verification or other checks (for example, regarding future uses) with respect to the content you provide to us; and
  • comply with and enforce applicable legal requirements, including without limitation court orders and regulations, relevant industry standards, contractual obligations and our policies.

Where required by applicable law, we obtain your consent to use your Personal Data. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. We may also use your Personal Data in other ways for which we provide specific notice at the time of collection and obtain your consent if required by applicable law.

You can tell us not to contact you with information regarding our products and Services, either at the point such information is collected on the Site (by checking or un-checking (as directed) the relevant box), by discontinuing a particular Service or, where you do not wish us to continue to use your information in this way, by following the unsubscribe instructions on any communications sent to you. You can also exercise the right at any time by contacting us using the Contacting us details at the end of this Statement.

Where you videos on our site, your video content viewing and associated media consumption activities (collectively “Viewing Activities”) may be collected when you use the Services. By watching video content on or through the Services, you are consenting to share your personal information, together with your Viewing Activities. Such sharing allows you to take advantage of the full features of the Services, which may include serving you ads on the Services that are of interest to you. Your consent to sharing is valid for two years or until you withdraw your consent by contacting us.

7. Information sharing

We may disclose aggregate statistics about visitors to the Site, those who engage with our Services, customers and sales in order to describe our Services to prospective partners, advertisers, sponsors and other reputable third parties and for other lawful purposes, but these statistics will include no Personal Data.

If you upload, grant clearance in respect of, sell, licence or otherwise provide content, including video content to Storyful or any other platform (in the case of the latter, such distribution shall always be limited to where there is a legal bases), when we distribute that content to our partners, or where you otherwise engage with our Services, we may disclose your Personal Data to our partners in order for them to independently verify the content you have published. This disclosure may include your name, Facebook, Twitter or other social media profile information and location and may also include other information you have provided to us, such as your email address and phone number and location of where the content was created. At the point at which you submit your content to us, you are required to acknowledge that this disclosure will be made and by continuing to upload your details you continue to agree to such disclosure.

We may also disclose your Personal Data to any of our affiliates, or to our agents or contractors who assist us in providing the Services we offer including those provided through the Site, processing transactions, fulfilling requests for information, receiving and sending communications, updating marketing lists, analysing data, providing support services or in other tasks, from time to time. Our agents and contractors will only use your information to the extent necessary to perform services on our behalf or to comply with legal requirements.

We require our service providers to protect the confidentiality and security of Personal Data, and to ensure that Personal Data is processed only for the provision of services on our behalf and in compliance with applicable law. Service providers are not authorized to use or disclose Personal Data, except as necessary to perform services on our behalf or to comply with legal requirements.

We may share your information with News Corp (our ultimate parent company) and any entity who is a News Corp affiliate who may be outside of the EEA for use in accordance with this Statement. A current list of our News Corp affiliated companies is available  at https://newscorp.com/about/our-businesses/.

We may further disclose information about you (1) if we are required to do so by law or legal process, (2) to law enforcement authorities or other government officials, and (3) when we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to prevent physical harm or financial loss, or in connection with an investigation of suspected or actual fraudulent or illegal activity. We also reserve the right to transfer Personal Data we have about you in the event of a proposed or completed sale or transfer of all or a portion of our business or assets (including in the event of a reorganization, dissolution or liquidation).

We will provide links to third-party websites as part of the Services we provide on this Site. Storyful is not responsible for the content of external websites, or for their privacy policies.

8. Child safety

Protecting the safety of children when they use the Internet is very important to us. We do not knowingly collect information from minors without seeking parental or guardian consent. We recommend that children receive permission from their parent or guardian before gaining access to our Services or sending Personal Data to us or anyone else online. Where we become aware that content may have been uploaded by a minor, we will contact the uploader to seek further permissions before using the content further. If content provided by you contains children, you must seek parental or guardian consent to share the content with us. When you submit the content, you declare that you have such permissions.

9. External links

The Site may, from time to time, contain links to external sites. We are not responsible for the privacy policies or the content of such sites.

The Site may contain content from YouTube. By using this content, you are agreeing to be bound by the Google Privacy Policy (https://policies.google.com/privacy) and the YouTube Terms of Service (https://www.youtube.com/t/terms).

10. Security

We place great importance on the security of the Personal Data associated with our users. We maintain administrative, technical and physical safeguards designed to protect the Personal Data we have about you against accidental, unlawful or unauthorized destruction, loss, alteration, access, disclosure or use. We make reasonable efforts to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk of the processing, taking into account the costs of implementation and nature of the processing of Personal Data.

You should bear in mind that submission of information over the Internet is never entirely secure. We cannot guarantee the security of information you submit via the Site or Services whilst it is in transit over the Internet and any such submission is at your own risk. It is advisable to close your browser when you have finished your user session to help ensure others do not access your Personal Data if you use a shared computer or a computer in a public place.

11. Transfer and storage of your information

Information that you submit via the Site and/or the Services is sent to and stored on secure servers located in the United States and in the EEA. Information submitted by you may also be transferred by us to our other offices and/or to the third parties mentioned in the circumstances described above (see Information sharing), which may be situated outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and/or the United States and may be processed by staff operating outside the EEA and/or the United States. The countries concerned may not have similar data protection laws to the EEA or the United States. Where we transfer your information we will take all reasonable steps to ensure that your privacy rights continue to be protected. This may include data transfer agreements, a copy of which you can obtain by contacting us as indicated in the “Contacting us” section below.

When you give us information about another person, you confirm that they have appointed you to act for them and agreed to the transfer of their information abroad.

12. Retention of personal data

We maintain administrative, technical and physical safeguards designed to protect the Personal Data we have about you against accidental, unlawful or unauthorized destruction, loss, alteration, access, disclosure or use. We make reasonable efforts to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk of the processing, taking into account the costs of implementation and nature of the processing of Personal Data.

We retain Personal Data for the period needed to fulfil the purposes for which Personal Data was collected and as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law, such as in relation to our record retention obligations.

13. Your rights and choices

You are entitled to require Storyful to uphold certain rights and choices that you have in connection with the Personal Data we obtain about you. You may contact Storyful to exercise these rights and choices, and to update your preferences as to how we communicate with you by contacting us as outlined below in the “Contacting Us” section, below.

  • Access: You may request to access your Personal Data that is processed or retained by Storyful. As provided under the General Data Protection Regulation 2018, on request, we will provide you with a copy of this information free of charge, subject to a fee not exceeding the permitted statutory maximum for repetitive or manifestly unfounded or excessive requests.
  • Rectification: You have the right to correct any errors in your Personal Data that is processed by Storyful.
  • Erasure: You are entitled to require Storyful to delete your personal data if our continued processing of that data is no longer justified. In particular, processing of your Personal Data may no longer be justified where:
    1. The data are no longer needed for the original purpose for which we collected them;
    2. The lawful basis for processing is your consent and you wish to withdraw that consent;
    3. You exercise your right to object, and Storyful has no overriding grounds for continuing the processing;
    4. Erasure is necessary to comply with EU, Irish or other law; or
    5. The original processing of your Personal Data was unlawful.
  • Restriction: You have the right to restrict the processing of your Personal Data to a particular purpose, including where the accuracy of the Personal Data we hold is contested; where you request restriction instead of erasure and you are entitled to require erasure; or where Storyful no longer needs the Personal Data for its original purpose but it is still required to establish, exercise, or defend legal rights.

As mentioned above, you have a right to prevent the use of your Personal Data for direct marketing purposes. We will respond to your questions or complaints relating to the processing of your Personal Data. If you are not satisfied with our responses, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, including the Irish Data Protection Commission.

14. Contacting us

The entity responsible for the collection and processing of Personal Data in connection with the Site and Services is Storyful Limited, 8 Harcourt Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.

Please submit any questions, concerns or comments you have about this privacy Statement or any requests concerning your personal data by email to privacy@storyful.com or write to us at:

FAO: General Counsel,
Storyful Limited,
8 Harcourt Street,
Dublin 2,
Ireland.