Social Factor Privacy Policy

Social Factor takes your privacy seriously. Please read this privacy policy carefully as it contains important information on who we are, as well as how and why we collect, store, use, and share your Personal Information. It also explains rights you may have in relation to your Personal Information and how to contact us or supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.

What we do, and how that’s related to your Personal Information.  Social Factor reviews and analyzes comments left by individuals on social media platforms and websites.  We do this to provide our own clients, who own or operate channels on those social media platforms and websites, with insights and advice on their own products and services.  The services we provide to support the business purposes of our clients may cause us to incidentally collect and process Personal Information from and about those who voluntarily choose to engage in such communications, often without either us or our client having requested or sought such Personal Information from the individual responsible for its provision to our client.  Regardless, our collection and processing of such Personal Information is on behalf of the client, to provide communications and marketing services in support of the client’s business purpose, and only with respect to information already in the client’s possession or accessible to the client through its own access to the social media platform(s) or website(s) where the Personal Information may have been originally provided.

Social Factor’s responsibilities with respect to Personal Information.  The extent to which Personal Information is contained within the identifier of a specific commenter, or within their comment, will of course vary, but because we might collect, reference, and/or use such Personal Information in doing our job for a client, we may become responsible for certain Personal Information about you while engaged in the above processing.  As a “Processor” and “Service Provider” for our clients (who are the “Controllers” of such Personal Information), we are subject to various laws that now and in the future may apply in the United States, and the General Data Protection Regulation which applies across the European Union (including in the United Kingdom).  At the same time, Social Factor is an employer, and may also interact with Personal Information while running its own business, such as in the contact information for representatives of potential Social Factor clients, which in either case is not collected solely because of its role as a Processor and Service Provider to clients.  In those cases, we are the “Controller” of certain Personal Information for the purposes of those same laws.

1. Key Terms. It would be helpful to start by explaining some key terms used in this policy:

2. Personal Information We Collect About You. We may collect and use the following Personal Information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household:

As noted above in Section 1, the above Personal Information, when processed for clients, is used solely to provide services to our clients, who are the Controllers of the Personal Information individuals have voluntarily posted or otherwise submitted to channels on social media platforms or websites.  When collected from job applicants, employees, or  marketing vendors who provide contact information for potential clients, others with whom we directly engage for running our business (such as those who may submit information on our website’s contact page), we use such information solely for the limited purposes described in this privacy policy.

3. How Your Personal Information is Collected. Other than our job applicants and employees, who submit Personal Information directly to us (or approve of our collection of such information from third-party sources), as well as visitors to our website using our contact page to submit Personal Information, and marketing vendors who may provide contact information for potential clients, we collect most other Personal Information from our clients — either directly pursuant to the provisions of Data Processing Agreements we have with them, or by accessing the third-party platforms used by clients to which we are granted access for the sole purpose of the processing described in this privacy policy.  We may also collect information from publicly accessible sources (e.g., property records), a third party (e.g., Sprinklr, YouTube, Facebook), Cookies and Beacons on our website (more on this below); and via our own internal IT systems, including door entry systems and reception logs, and automated monitoring of our websites and other technical systems, such as our computer networks and connections, CCTV and access control systems, communications systems, email, and instant messaging systems.  Much of the Personal Information collected in the process of serving our clients was posted by an individual without restriction to a specific audience by making it accessible on a publicly available website and/or social media platform.

Information Collected via Website Contact Form.  Categories of information collected from our website’s webform include email addresses, names, and phone numbers.  The purpose of collecting this information is to facilitate a response to your own submitted inquiry to us, as well as to send you announcements and updates regarding Social Factor’s products and services.  We do not sell or share this information.  We will retain the information submitted for as long as it remains relevant for the above purposes, unless you notify us to delete the information or remove you from our list.

Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You will be asked to consent to the use of cookies.  You may refuse to accept cookies, but then you may be unable to access certain parts of our website if the cookies are essential for you to browse the website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of the site.

Flash Cookies. Certain features of our website may use local stored objects (or Flash cookies) to collect and store information about your preferences and navigation to, from, and on our website. Flash cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as are used for browser cookies.

Web Beacons. Pages of our website and some of our e-mails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit us, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).

Disabling Cookies. You also can change your own browser settings to reject cookies; instructions for the most popular browsers are below:

For Microsoft Internet Explorer:

Choose the menu “tools” then “Internet Options”

Click on the “privacy” tab

Select appropriate setting

For Google Chrome:

Choose Settings> Advanced

Under “Privacy and security,” click “Content settings”.

Click “Cookies”

For Safari:

Choose Preferences > Privacy

Click on “Remove all Website Data”

For Mozilla Firefox:

Choose the menu “tools” then “Options”

Click on the icon “privacy”

Find the menu “cookie” and select the relevant options

For Opera 6.0 and further:

Choose the menu “Files”> “Preferences”

A note about links to third-party sites.  Our own website and some emails from us from time to time may post content or contain links to third-party websites that are not owned or controlled by Social Factor. Social Factor does not monitor and assumes no responsibility for the content, tracking and data gathering (which includes but is not limited to the use of cookies, flash cookies, web beacons, other data tracking devices, data gathering practices, or collection of personally identifiable information), terms and conditions, or privacy policies or practices of any third-party websites. In addition, Social Factor does not censor or edit the content of any third-party websites. Social Factor is not responsible nor liable for your use of any third-party websites accessed through the Social Factor website. Accordingly, Social Factor encourages you to be aware when you leave this website or the Services found at this website and to review the terms and conditions, privacy policies, and any other governing documents of any other website you may visit.

We also use Google Analytics, a web analysis service provided by Google, to better understand consumers’  use of our website.  Google Analytics collects information such as how often users visit the websites, what pages they visit and what other sites they used prior to visiting. Google uses the data collected to track and examine the use of the website, to prepare reports on its activities and share them with other Google services. Google may use the data collected on our website to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network. Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to the websites is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Privacy Policy. Google offers an opt-out mechanism for the web available here.

4. How and Why We Use Your Personal Information. The processing of your Personal Information, when collected from our clients to provide them with a service that supports their own business purposes, is governed primarily by Data Processing Agreements with our clients, in which we commit that we will not use Personal Information given to us by our clients for any other reason.

As to the Personal Information we may collect from job applicants, employees, web visitors,  marketing vendors who may provide contact information for potential clients, and otherwise in supporting our own business operations, we will use such Personal Information only if we have a proper reason for doing so, such as:

• To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;
• For the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering a contract;
• For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, including determining the potential for a new client engagement; or
• Where you have given consent (such as by using our website’s contact page).

A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your information, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests.  Any marketing vendors who may provide contact information for potential clients have agreed to terms with Social Factor which obligate such vendors to only provide such information when it has been lawfully collected, including with appropriate third party consents to the use of such information in this manner (if required).

The table below explains how we use (process) your Personal Information, and our reasons for doing so, and how such has been done in the previous 12-months:

Note that the above table also applies to Special Category Personal Information when it is processed without the purpose of inferring characteristics about the identifiable data subject to whom it relates. To the extent that any Special Category Personal Information was collected and used for the purpose of inferring characteristics about an identifiable data subject, we would only do so with explicit consent.  We take steps to prevent the known processing of special category Personal Information for the purpose of inferring characteristics whenever practicable.

5. Promotional Communications. We will not use Personal Information collected during processing of client data for promotional communications.  However, we may send promotional communications to our clients, potential new clients identified by marketing vendors, and informational announcements or job postings to applicants and employees, as well as those who provide consent to do so when submitting information via our website contact page.  Where consent is needed, we will ask for this consent separately and clearly.

Regardless, we will always treat your Personal Information with the utmost respect and never sell or share it with other organizations for marketing purposes.

You have the right to opt out of receiving promotional communications at any time by:

• Contacting us at info@socialfactor.com;
• Using the “unsubscribe” link in emails or “STOP” number in texts; or

We may ask you to confirm or update your marketing preferences if you instruct us to provide further services in the future, or if there are changes in the law, regulation, or the structure of our business.

6. Categories of Third Parties to whom we disclose your Personal Information. We disclose Personal Information to certain categories of third parties for a business or commercial purpose as follows (such disclosures are ongoing, including in the previous 12-months):

• Service providers we use to help deliver our services to our clients.  When we do, we will do so under Sub-processor Agreements in which they promise not to use the Personal Information for any other reason;
• Other third parties we use to help us run our business, such as marketing agencies or website hosts, data storage providers, cloud IT services and SaaS providers, professionals (our own lawyers and CPAs), contractor, and online training platforms, including, but not limited to Asana, Google, HubSpot, Pantheon, or Trinet, and you hereby agree to the terms and conditions of each of their linked privacy policies by permitting us to process the Personal Information provided;
• Marketing vendors of Social Factor with whom we share Personal Information comprising contact information of current or former clients whom we are directing them to not contact for marketing services.

We only allow our service providers to handle Personal Information once we are satisfied they take appropriate measures to protect that Personal Information. We also impose contractual obligations on service providers to ensure they can only use your Personal Information to provide services to us and to you.

We may also share Personal Information with external auditors (e.g., in relation to SOC-2 or other accreditation and the audit of our accounts).

We may disclose and exchange information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.

We may also need to share some Personal Information with other parties, such as potential buyers of some or all of our business or during a re-structuring. We will typically anonymize information, but this may not always be possible.  Regardless, the recipient of the information will be bound by confidentiality obligations.

7. Social Factor Does Not Sell or Share Personal Information.

At the time of this privacy policy’s publication, we have never sold to or shared with a third party (other than disclosures for the internal business or commercial support purposes described above) any Personal Information that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household.

8. Where Your Personal Information is Held.

Personal Information held by Social Factor is stored in enterprise cloud-based data storage solutions.  This data storage may be licensed by us, or by our service providers, representatives, and agents as described above (see above: “Where we share your Personal Information ”).  Some of these storage solutions may be based outside the European Economic Area.  For more information, including on how we safeguard your Personal Information when this occurs, see below: “Transferring Your Personal Information Out of the EEA”.

9. How Long Your Personal Information Will Be Kept.

We will keep Personal Information provided by clients while processing it for them, for a period of seven (7) years thereafter, or for the specific period provided for in the Data Processing Agreement for each client.

For job applicants and employees, and those who submit information via our website contact page, we will keep your Personal Information for as long as is necessary:

• To respond to inquiries for services and other options as indicated on the website contact page;
• To respond to any questions, complaints, or claims made by you or on your behalf;
• To show that we treated you fairly; or
• To keep records required by law.

We will not retain your Personal Information for longer than necessary for the purposes set out in this policy, and when it is no longer necessary to retain Personal Information as provided above, we will delete or anonymize it.

10. Transferring Personal Information Out of the EEA or UK.

To deliver services as we have outlined in this policy, it is sometimes necessary for us to share Personal Information outside the European Economic Area (EEA) or United Kingdom (UK), e.g.:

• While processing Personal Information for a client who is in the EEA/UK, and who sends us information from the EEA/UK, or allows us to access Personal Information hosted in the EEA/UK;
• To utilize service providers for data storage and other processing who are located outside the EEA/UK (e.g., processing data on servers located outside of the EEA/UK);
• If you are based outside the EEA/UK, and we directly engage with you.

These transfers are subject to special rules under European and UK data protection law.

The following countries to which we may transfer Personal Information have been assessed by the European Commission as providing an adequate level of protection for Personal Information: South Korea.

Some non-EEA/UK countries do not have the same data protection laws as the United Kingdom and EEA. We will, regardless, ensure the transfer complies with data protection law and all Personal Information will be secure. In doing so, our standard practice is to use standard data protection contract clauses (SCC’s) that have been approved by the European Commission. To obtain a copy of those clauses as most recently updated on June 4, 2021, you may visit https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/international-dimension-data-protection/standard-contractual-clauses-scc_en. If you would like further information on the SCCs, and how we take steps to ensure adequate safeguards for data transferred outside of the EEA/UK, please contact our Data Protection Officer (see “How to Contact Us” below).

11. Your Rights Under the GDPR.  If you are a resident of the EEA/UK, you have certain rights with respect to your Personal Information:

For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individual rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (https://ico.org.uk/).

12. Your Rights Under Certain U.S. State Privacy Laws. You may also have rights under the certain data privacy legislation enacted by various U.S. states, depending on whether such state laws are applicable to Social Factor and the Personal Information practices described in this policy.  As a Processor only (not a “Controller,” since we do not sell Personal Information collected as a Processor, and only process it as a service provider to support the business purposes of our clients), we will normally refer inquiries regarding the exercise of such rights to our clients for response, and assist in responding to such inquiries to the extent required by law and/or the terms of our contracts with such clients.  As a Controller, when applicable, we will assess each request  to exercise such rights to determine whether it is regarding laws that apply to Social Factor in the specific circumstances of such request, and how to respond in a legally compliant manner.

California: California residents have the following specific rights related to data privacy:

Residents of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia provide (now or in the future) their own respective state residents with rights similar to the above, plus additional rights to be free from or opt out of targeted advertising (excluding Iowa) and free from profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects (excluding Iowa and Utah).  The exact scope of privacy rights varies by state.

To learn more or exercise any of the above rights please contact us using the process provided in Section 14.  You will be asked to verify your identity and reasonably sufficient information regarding your request (or a request made on behalf of another individual an authorized agent) for us to determine the validity of the request, whether we have the Personal Information that is the subject of your request, and whether any exceptions or limitations may apply to your request.  We will confirm receipt of your request to delete, correct or know within 10 days, and provide next steps.  We will then respond within 45 days to the request, or advise why an additional 45 day period is needed.

13. Keeping Your Personal Information Secure. We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent Personal Information from being accidentally lost or used or accessed in an unauthorized way. We also limit access to your Personal Information to those who have a genuine business need to access it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorized manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality. We continually test our systems and are audited to ensure our internal controls are designed and implemented and/or operating effectively which means we follow top industry standards for information security. We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

14. How to Exercise Your Rights and Appeal Determinations. If you would like to exercise any of your rights as described in this Privacy Policy for which we are responsible, please:

• Email us at privacy@socialfactor.com; or
• Call us at +1 817-708-2500.

All such requests, if regarding client data, will be referred to our clients for validation and processing.  We will then assist our clients as appropriate.

If you choose to contact directly by email or phone, you will need to provide us with:

• Enough information to identify you (e.g., your full name, address, and other reference info);
• Proof of your identity and address (e.g., a copy of your driving license or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill); and
• A description of what right you want to exercise and the information to which your request relates.

We and our clients are not obligated to make a data access or data portability disclosure if we cannot verify that the person making the request is the person about whom we collected information, or is someone authorized to act on such person’s behalf.

Any Personal Information we collect from you to verify your identity in connection with you request will be used solely for the purposes of verification.

Should you disagree with any determination by Social Factor regarding a request related to this Privacy Policy, you have a right to appeal.  Simply follow the same instructions as provided above, and include in your notice that your message is regarding an appeal of a previous determination.  Include as many relevant details in the appeal request as may be necessary for us to locate and review the original determination, including our original response if available.

15. How to File a GDPR Complaint. We hope that our DPO can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your information.  However, the General Data Protection Regulation also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in the European Union (or European Economic Area) state where you work, normally live, or where any alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred.  Click here to locate contact information for your applicable Data Protection Authority.

16. Changes to This Privacy Notice. This privacy notice was published on July 10, 2021 and last updated in May 17, 2024.  We may change this privacy notice from time to time, and when we do, we will inform you via this same URL where the privacy policy is now located.  You should periodically review this policy for updates.

17. How to Contact Us. Please contact us and our DPO by post, email or telephone if you have any questions about this privacy policy or the information we hold about you:

18. Notice Concerning Information of Children.  Social Factor does not direct any of its practices or system towards children. We are committed to respecting the privacy of children online.  Since Social Factor does not sell or share Personal Information, Social Factor has no actual knowledge that it sells or shares such information about consumers under age 16.  If Social Factor learns that the information of a child under the age of 13 is stored by Social Factor, Social Factor will promptly delete any such Personal Information.

19. Do You Need Extra Help? We are committed to ensuring our Website (including this Privacy Policy) is universally accessible. If you would like this notice in another format (for example: audio, large print, braille) please contact us (see “How to contact us” above).