Privacy Policy

Last Updated: May 8, 2025

TheyAreTrusted.com ("Site", "Platform", "we", "us", or "our") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website, use our services, or interact with our applications (collectively, the "Services"). Please read this privacy policy carefully. If you do not agree with the terms of this privacy policy, please do not access the site or use our services.

1. Information We Collect

We may collect information about you in a variety of ways. The information we may collect via the Services includes:

A. Personal Data

• Account Information: When you register for an account, we collect personally identifiable information, such as your name, username, email address, and password.
• Verification Information: To ensure the integrity of our review platform and as part of our 100% verified review process, we require users wishing to submit reviews to undergo identity verification. This may involve collecting:
  • Government-issued ID data (e.g., images of your driver's license, passport, or national ID card), including ID number, date of birth, and other information visible on the ID.
  • Biometric data (e.g., a selfie image which may be used for facial recognition to compare with your ID photo, or fingerprint data if this method is offered and chosen by you).
  This information is collected solely for identity verification and fraud prevention purposes. We utilize third-party specialist verification service providers to securely handle this process. We do not store raw biometric data on our primary servers long-term beyond what is necessary for the initial verification and ongoing account security checks, unless explicitly consented or required by law. Please see Section 4 (How We Share Your Information) and Section 5 (Data Security) for more details.
• Contact Information: If you contact us directly, we may receive additional information about you such as your name, email address, phone number, the contents of the message and/or attachments you may send us, and any other information you may choose to provide.

B. User-Generated Content

• Reviews and Comments: We collect the content you submit as reviews, comments, ratings, and any other contributions to the Platform. This may include text, images, or videos.
• Profile Information: You may choose to add additional information to your public profile, such as a profile picture, location, or personal description.

C. Business Information

• If you are a business owner claiming or managing a profile, we collect information about your business, such as business name, address, contact details, industry, and services offered.

D. Derivative Data (Usage Data)

• Information our servers automatically collect when you access the Services, such as your IP address, your browser type, your operating system, your access times, and the pages you have viewed directly before and after accessing the Site.
• Device information, such as your mobile device ID, model, and manufacturer, and information about the location of your device, if you permit us to access this information.

E. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

• We use cookies, web beacons, tracking pixels, and other tracking technologies on the Site to help customize the Services and improve your experience. For more information on how we use cookies, please refer to our Cookie Policy.

2. How We Use Your Information

Having accurate information about you permits us to provide you with a smooth, efficient, and customized experience. Specifically, we may use information collected about you via the Services to:

• Create and manage your account.
• Verify your identity to maintain the integrity of our review platform and prevent fraudulent activity.
• Process your reviews and other User Content and display them on the Platform.
• Enable user-to-user communications.
• Allow businesses to manage their profiles and respond to reviews.
• Email you regarding your account or order.
• Send you newsletters, promotional materials, and other information about our services or partners, where you have opted-in to receive such communications.
• Fulfill and manage purchases, orders, payments, and other transactions related to the Services (if applicable).
• Increase the efficiency and operation of the Services.
• Monitor and analyze usage and trends to improve your experience with the Services.
• Notify you of updates to the Services.
• Offer new products, services, and/or recommendations to you.
• Perform other business activities as needed.
• Prevent fraudulent transactions, monitor against theft, and protect against criminal activity.
• Resolve disputes and troubleshoot problems.
• Respond to product and customer service requests.
• Comply with legal and regulatory requirements.

3. How We Share Your Information

We may share information we have collected about you in certain situations. Your information may be disclosed as follows:

A. By Law or to Protect Rights

• If we believe the release of information about you is necessary to respond to legal process, to investigate or remedy potential violations of our policies, or to protect the rights, property, and safety of others, we may share your information as permitted or required by any applicable law, rule, or regulation.

B. Third-Party Service Providers

• We may share your information with third parties that perform services for us or on our behalf, including identity verification services (for ID and biometric data processing), payment processing, data analysis, email delivery, hosting services, customer service, and marketing assistance. These service providers are contractually obligated to protect your data and are restricted from using your personal information in any way other than to help us. For verification data, our providers are specialists in secure identity verification.

C. User-Generated Content

• Your reviews, comments, and public profile information (such as username, profile picture if provided, and the date of your contributions) will be publicly visible to other users of the Platform and may be publicly distributed outside the Platform in perpetuity.

D. Businesses Listed on the Platform

• Reviews and public User Content you submit regarding a specific business will be shared with that business, allowing them to see customer feedback.

E. Analytics and Search Engine Indexing

• Parts of your public profile and your public reviews may be indexed by third-party search engines.

F. Business Transfers

• We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.

G. Affiliates

• We may share your information with our affiliates, in which case we will require those affiliates to honor this Privacy Policy. Affiliates include our parent company and any subsidiaries, joint venture partners, or other companies that we control or that are under common control with us.

H. With Your Consent

• We may disclose your personal information for any other purpose with your consent.

We do not sell your personal information.

4. Data Security

We use administrative, technical, and physical security measures to help protect your personal information, especially sensitive information like verification data.

• Verification Data Security: Information collected for identity verification (such as ID images and biometric data) is handled with heightened security. This data is typically processed by our specialized third-party verification partners who employ industry-standard security measures, including encryption in transit and at rest, and strict access controls. We limit our own access to and storage of such raw data.
• General Security: While we have taken reasonable steps to secure the personal information you provide to us, please be aware that despite our efforts, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable, and no method of data transmission can be guaranteed against any interception or other type of misuse. Any information disclosed online is vulnerable to interception and misuse by unauthorized parties. Therefore, we cannot guarantee complete security if you provide personal information.

5. Data Retention

We will retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

• Account Data: We retain your account information for as long as your account is active and a reasonable period thereafter in case you decide to re-activate the Services.
• Verification Data: Information related to identity verification may be retained by us or our third-party verification partners for a period necessary to comply with legal obligations (such as anti-fraud and KYC/AML requirements), resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. We aim to anonymize or delete verification data when it is no longer strictly necessary for these purposes.
• User-Generated Content: Your reviews and public contributions may remain on the platform indefinitely, even after your account is terminated, but may be anonymized upon request where feasible and legally permissible.

6. Your Rights and Choices

Depending on your location and applicable data protection laws, you may have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Access: The right to request access to the personal information we hold about you.
• Rectification: The right to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal information.
• Erasure (Right to be Forgotten): The right to request deletion of your personal information, subject to certain legal limitations (e.g., if we are required to retain it by law).
• Restrict Processing: The right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal information under certain conditions.
• Data Portability: The right to request a copy of your personal information in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.
• Object to Processing: The right to object to our processing of your personal information under certain conditions (e.g., for direct marketing).
• Withdraw Consent: If we are processing your personal information based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

To exercise these rights, please contact us using the contact information provided below. We may need to verify your identity before processing your request.

• Account Information: You may at any time review or change the information in your account or terminate your account by logging into your account settings or contacting us.
• Emails and Communications: You may opt-out of receiving marketing or promotional emails from us by following the unsubscribe instructions in those emails or by changing your notification settings in your account.

7. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our Service and hold certain information. You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Service. For more detailed information, please see our Cookie Policy.

8. Children's Privacy

Our Services are not directed to individuals under the age of 18 (or the relevant age of majority). We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under this age. If we become aware that a child under this age has provided us with personal information, we will take steps to delete such information.

9. International Data Transfers

Your information, including personal data, may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of your state, province, country, or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ from those from your jurisdiction. If you are located outside [Your Company's Country of Operation] and choose to provide information to us, please note that we transfer the data, including Personal Data, to [Your Company's Country of Operation] and process it there. Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by your submission of such information represents your agreement to that transfer.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last Updated" date. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

11. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, or wish to exercise any of your rights, please contact us:

• By email: [email protected]
• By mail: [Your Physical Mailing Address, if applicable]
• [Link to a Data Protection Officer contact, if applicable]