1. Information We Collect

Personal Information

When you create an account or use our Service, we may collect:

• Account information: Name, email address, username, password
• Payment information: Billing address, payment method details (processed securely through our payment provider)
• Profile information: Any additional information you choose to provide

Usage Information

We automatically collect information about how you use our Service:

• Content analyzed: URLs and content you submit for fact-checking
• Uploaded files: If you use File mode, we process the file you upload (e.g., PDF, image, audio, video) to generate an analysis and (when applicable) a transcript.
• Search history: Your fact-check history and results
• Device information: IP address, browser type, operating system, device identifiers
• Usage data: Pages visited, features used, time spent on the Service
• Cookies and tracking: Data collected through cookies and similar technologies

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Provide our Service: Process fact-checks, deliver analysis results, and maintain your account
• Improve our Service: Analyze usage patterns, develop new features, and enhance AI accuracy
• Process payments: Handle subscriptions, billing, and transactions
• Communicate with you: Send service updates, respond to inquiries, and provide customer support
• Security: Detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and security incidents
• Legal compliance: Comply with legal obligations and enforce our Terms of Service
• Marketing: Send promotional emails (you can opt out anytime)

3. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell your personal information. We may share your information with:

Service Providers

We work with third-party companies that help us operate our Service:

• Payment processors: To handle subscription payments and transactions
• Cloud hosting: To store data and host our infrastructure
• Analytics providers: To understand usage patterns and improve our Service
• Email services: To send transactional and marketing emails
• AI services: To power our fact-checking analysis
• File processing: When you submit a file for analysis, the file (or extracted representations such as text/transcript) may be transmitted to our AI service providers solely to generate your requested analysis.

Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if required by law or in response to:

• Legal processes (court orders, subpoenas)
• Government or regulatory requests
• Enforcement of our Terms of Service
• Protection of our rights, property, or safety

Business Transfers

If FactCheckTool is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred to the new owner.

4. Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your information:

• Encryption: Data is encrypted in transit using SSL/TLS and at rest
• Access controls: Limited access to personal data on a need-to-know basis
• Secure infrastructure: Servers hosted in secure, monitored data centers
• Regular security audits: Ongoing assessment of our security practices

5. Data Retention

We retain your information for as long as necessary to:

• Provide our Service and maintain your account
• Comply with legal obligations
• Resolve disputes and enforce our agreements
• Improve our Service and AI models

When you delete your account, we will delete or anonymize your personal information within 30 days, except where we are required to retain it by law.

Uploaded files (File mode): Uploaded files are stored temporarily for processing and are deleted from our system after processing. We may retain the resulting analysis output (and limited metadata such as file name and type) in your account history, unless you delete it.

6. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Correction: Update or correct inaccurate information
• Deletion: Request deletion of your personal data
• Portability: Receive your data in a machine-readable format
• Objection: Object to processing of your personal data
• Restriction: Request limitation of data processing
• Opt-out: Unsubscribe from marketing emails

To exercise these rights, contact us at contact@factchecktool.com

7. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to:

• Essential cookies: Required for the Service to function
• Analytics cookies: Help us understand how users interact with our Service
• Preference cookies: Remember your settings and preferences
• Marketing cookies: Track ad campaign effectiveness

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Note that disabling cookies may limit functionality.

8. Public Results and Community Benefit

Some fact-check results may be accessible through a unique public link. We do this because many submissions are based on content that is already publicly available on the internet (such as news articles, public social media posts, or public videos).

Public URLs: When you fact-check publicly available links, the resulting analysis may be viewable and shareable so others can learn from it, compare sources, and see credibility scores. This helps improve transparency and supports the wider community.

File uploads: For uploaded files (PDFs, images, audio, video), we do not publicly display the full file contents on the result page. Uploaded files are processed to generate the analysis and are deleted after processing.

If you do not want a result to be accessible via a public link, do not submit sensitive content, and contact us if you need assistance.

8. Third-Party Links

Our Service may contain links to external websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these third-party sites. We encourage you to review their privacy policies.

9. International Data Transfers

FactCheckTool operates from Switzerland. Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than your country of residence. We ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your data in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

10. Children's Privacy

Our Service is not intended for children under 16 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe we have collected information from a child, please contact us immediately.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by:

• Posting the new Privacy Policy on this page
• Updating the "Last updated" date
• Sending you an email notification (for significant changes)

Your continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy.