Privacy Policy – Gamespot, Metacritic, TVGuide, ComicVine, GiantBomb, GameFAQs (original) (raw)

Privacy Policy

Date of Last Revision: November 1, 2023

Fandom, Inc. (“Fandom” “we,” “us,” and “our”) provides a home to explore, contribute to, and celebrate the world of pop culture. This Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) applies to personal information processed by us on our gamespot.com, metacritic.com, tvguide.com, comicvine.com, giantbomb.com and gamefaqs.com websites (including subdomains thereof), and related mobile applications and offline offerings (collectively, the “Services”).. This Privacy Policy is designed to help you understand how we collect, use and share your personal information on those properties and to assist you in exercising the privacy rights available to you.

This Privacy Policy describes the type of personal information that we may collect for our own purposes; how we use, protect, and share that information; and the choices that you have. By using the Services, you acknowledge the information collection practices and purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy. Any capitalized terms used, but not defined, in this Privacy Policy have the meanings provided in the Terms of Use of the applicable Services.

Changes to This Privacy Policy. We may revise this Privacy Policy from time to time in our sole discretion. If there are any material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you as required by applicable law. You understand and agree that you will be deemed to have accepted the updated Privacy Policy if you continue to use the Services after the new Privacy Policy takes effect.

You can jump to specific topics by clicking on the links below:

Types of Information We Collect

Use and Processing of Information

Sharing of Information

Social Features

Cookie Policy

Manage Your Information

How We Protect Personal Information

Additional Provisions of this Privacy Policy that are Applicable to EEA and UK Residents

Additional Provisions of this Privacy Policy that are Applicable to U.S. Residents

Additional Provisions of this Privacy Policy that are Applicable to Residents of Brazil and China

Miscellaneous

Types of Information We Collect

The following are examples of the types of information that we may collect directly from you, about you, and/or from other sources, including third parties, business partners, our affiliates, or publicly available sources.

Information collected directly from you:

Information collected Automatically:

Information we may collect from other sources:

Use and Processing of Information

In addition to the purposes and uses described elsewhere in this policy, we may use information in the following ways:

Although the sections above describe our primary purpose(s) in collecting your information, in many situations we have more than one purpose. For example, if you complete an online purchase we may collect your information to perform our contract with you, but we also collect your information as we have a business need in maintaining your information after your transaction is complete so that we can quickly and easily respond to any questions about your order. As a result, our collection and processing of your information is based in different contexts upon your consent, our need to perform a contract, our obligations under law, and/or our need to conduct our business.

Sharing of Information

In addition to the specific situations discussed elsewhere in this policy, we may disclose your Personal Information in the following situations:

Social Features

Some of our Services may include features that are designed to permit interactions that you initiate between our site and third-party websites or services, including third-party social networks (collectively, “Social Features”). For example, you may be able to “like” or “share” content from our Services on other websites or services, such as Facebook/Instagram, Twitter, YouTube/Google, and LinkedIn. Before choosing to like or share information from our Services through these services, you should review the privacy policy of that service.

If you use Social Features on our Services or access our Services from Social Features, both Fandom and the social media services that operate those Social Features may have access to certain information about you and your use of both our site and theirs. If you are a member of a social media site and logged in, the interfaces configured on our Services may allow the social media site to connect your site visit and browsing behavior to the personal data held on your social media site. We may use this information on an aggregate basis to place ads that are based on your interests on these social media sites. These practices are governed by the privacy statements of these social networking sites and you are advised to review these separately.

In addition, we may request your permission to access and collect information available from your social networking account. When you connect your social networking service with your Fandom account, you authorize us to access certain information about you from your social networking service to provide content and services, including to help us tailor our communications to you and to develop rich online content and services across the Services. The information we may access from your social networking services is governed by the privacy policies and settings of those third-party services.

The information collected and stored by the social media sites remains subject to those sites’ privacy practices, including whether they continue to share information with us, the types of information shared, and your choices with regard to what is visible to others on those third-party websites or services. Please exercise caution before sharing information on our Services that may identify you in the real world.

TV and Audio Control Services

We have partnered with certain third-party companies that offer TV and audio control services to enhance your video content viewing experience. For example, you can use third-party apps and audio control services, such as the Apple TV App or Siri, to search, recommend or access video content on the Services. These apps and audio control services may be able to collect and store information about you, including about your video viewing activities on the Services. By using your Services account with a third-party TV app or audio control service, you consent to share information about you, including the video content that you have watched on the Services. You can limit how third-party TV app or audio control services collect and store information about your video content viewing by visiting the third-party app’s privacy settings. For example, the Apple TV App allows you to discontinue the collection and storage of your video content viewing information by visiting the Apple TV App Settings page choosing the “Remove and Clear Play History” option. Click here to learn more about the Apple TV and audio control services privacy policy.

Manage Your Information

You can make the following choices using our online form here regarding your Personal Information:

Note that, as required by law, in order to process your request, we will require you to prove your identity. Depending on your request, we will require, at minimum, you to provide your name, phone number, and email address. We may require additional information to verify your identity dependent upon the sensitivity of the personal information related to your request.

If you do not want to make requests for access, deletion, or Do-Not-Sell using our online form, you may contact us at support@fandom.com, or dpo@fandom.com or in writing at:

Fandom, Inc. Desmond Cussen, Data Protection Officerc/o Fandom, Inc.
130 Sutter Street, 4th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94104

An authorized agent may make any of the requests above by using our online form or contacting us as noted above. If you are an authorized agent acting on behalf of a user to communicate with us or to exercise a privacy right discussed above, you must be able to demonstrate that you have the requisite authorization to act on behalf of the user, and have sufficient access to that user’s laptop, desktop, or mobile device to exercise that user’s right digitally. If you are an authorized agent trying to exercise rights on behalf of one of our users, then you can make a request on the user’s behalf by contacting us as set forth below: Such requests must include the following information: (1) a written authorization from the consumer that includes the consumer’s full name, address, telephone number and valid email address used by the consumer to interact with us, that is signed by the consumer and clearly bestows upon the agent the proper authority; and (2) a certificate of good standing with your state of organization. Alternatively, an acting agent can provide a valid power of attorney signed by the consumer on the agent’s behalf and a valid email address used by the consumer to interact with us. The email address of the consumer will be used to separately verify the agent’s authority with the consumer.

You can also make the following choices regarding communications preferences:

How We Protect Personal Information

No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is fully secure. While we use reasonable efforts to protect your Personal Information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure, we cannot guarantee the security of your Personal Information. If we are required by law to inform you of a breach to your Personal Information, we may notify you electronically, in writing, or by telephone, if permitted to do so by law.

Some of our websites permit you to create an account. When you do you will be prompted to create a password. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password, and you are responsible for any access to or use of your account by someone else that has obtained your password or device, whether or not such access or use has been authorized by you. You should notify us of any unauthorized use of your password or account.

ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY THAT ARE APPLICABLE TO EEA AND UK RESIDENTS

What is our justification for handling your personal data?

Under EEA and UK data protection laws, we have to ensure that we process your personal information fairly and lawfully. This means that we must have a “legal basis” for each of our processing activities where they relate to the personal data of an individual within the EEA or the UK. These bases include:

We rely on these legal bases in different ways, and in relation to different types of processing of your personal data.

Consent

With respect to gamespot.com, metacritic.com, tvguide.com, comicvine.com, giantbomb.com, and gamefaqs.com, and their respective subdomains, we process your personal information collected through the use of the following Technologies (as described above) on the basis of your consent, which we ask for when you first visit one of those sites:

You are entitled to withdraw your consent to our use of these Technologies. In order to change your consent settings for the applicable above-referenced domain that you are currently on, please click the “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” link on each site’s respective homepage.

Legitimate Interests

We believe that our use of your other personal information described herein is necessary for our legitimate interests, which are as follows:

  1. To run, grow and develop our business;
  2. To operate the Services;
  3. For marketing, market research and business development; and
  4. For internal administrative purposes.

If we rely on our, or another person’s, legitimate interests for using your personal information, we will undertake a balancing test to ensure that our (or the other person’s) legitimate interests are not outweighed by your interests or fundamental rights and freedoms which require protection. You can ask us for our information on this balancing test by using the contact details provided above.

We process your personal information collected through the use of Strictly Necessary Technologies (as described above) on the basis of our legitimate interests. We also rely on legitimate interests to use your personal information in order to provide you with access to the Services, and to make sure that they work properly, and to keep a record of who is accessing and making changes to the different parts of our Services.

International Transfers

In providing the Services, your personal information may be stored and processed in any country where we have facilities or in which we engage service providers, and by using the Services you acknowledge the storage and processing of your personal information in countries outside your country of residence, including the United States, which may have different data protection rules than your country.

Where we transfer your personal information to another entity located outside the EEA or the UK, we will take steps to ensure that such transfers comply with applicable privacy laws, including EU Regulation 2016/679 (the “GDPR“), the GDPR as retained in law in the UK (the “UK GDPR“) and the UK Data Protection at 2018 (“DPA“), such as:

In the EEA or the UK you may make a complaint to a supervisory authority for data protection matters (for example, the Polish President of the PDPO in Poland or the Information Commissioner’s Office in the UK) or seek a remedy through local courts if you believe your rights have been breached.

ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY THAT ARE APPLICABLE TO U.S. RESIDENTS

The laws of several U.S. States give their residents the right to opt-out of certain selling and/or sharing of personal information related to them. Fandom has elected to make this opt-out right available to all U.S. residents.

U.S. residents have the right to:

Know about your personal information we have collected, disclosed, or sold in the last 12 months, upon verification of your identity. In addition, you may have the right in some cases to receive or have your electronic personal information transferred to another party. Please utilize the form found here when making this request: Download Your Data.

Request Deletion of your personal information, subject to certain exceptions prescribed by law. Please utilize the form found here when making this request: Right of Deletion.

Opt out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. Under the laws of several U.S. States, some information we share may be considered a “sale.” To opt-out of the sale of your personal information, please click here.

Not be discriminated against by us for exercising your privacy rights.

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please use the indicated forms or links, where applicable, or otherwise email us at support@fandom.com. We will process such requests in accordance with applicable laws. To protect your privacy, we may take steps to verify your identity before fulfilling your request.

If you are a California resident under 16, you may not register for the Services or provide us with any personal information. Please contact us using the information provided below if you are aware of any personal information provided to us by a California resident under the age of 16. We do not have actual knowledge of selling the personal information of minors under 16 years of age.

In the table below, we identify each category of personal information we collected from U.S. consumers, and the categories of third parties to whom each category of information was disclosed for a business purpose or sold, within the last 12 months. The categories of sources from which we collect personal information are set forth above in the section “PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT.” We collected or sold the personal information for the business and commercial purposes set forth above in the section “HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION.”

Category of Personal Information Collected by Fandom Category of Third Parties Personal Information is Disclosed to for a Business Purpose Category of Third Parties to Whom Personal Information is Sold And/or Shared
Identifiers. A real name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet Protocol address, email address, account name, or other similar identifiers. Service providers Other users or third parties you share or interact with Advertising partners Data analytics providers Social networks Service providers Data analytics providers Social networks
Personal information categories listed in the California Customer Records statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80€) A name, address, telephone number, employment, employment history, financial information Note: Some personal information included in this category may overlap with other categories. Service providers Advertising partners Data analytics providers Service providers Data analytics providers
Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law Age, sex (including gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy or childbirth and related medical conditions). Service providers Advertising partners Data analytics providers Service providers Advertising partners Data analytics providers
Commercial information Records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies. Service providers Business partners Affiliates Advertising partners Data analytics providers Service providers Advertising partners Data analytics providers
Internet or other electronic network activity Browsing history, search history, information on a consumer’s interaction with an internet website, application, or advertisement. Service providers Advertising partners Data analytics providers Service providers Advertising partners Data analytics providers
Sensory data Audio, electronic, visual, or similar information. Service providers Advertising partners Data analytics providers Advertising partners Data analytics providers Social networks
Inferences drawn from other personal information to create a profile about a consumer Profile reflecting a consumer’s preferences, characteristics, behavior, and attitudes. Service providers Business partners Other users or third parties you share or interact with Advertising partners Data analytics providers Social networks Advertising partners Data analytics providers Social networks

ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY THAT ARE APPLICABLE TO RESIDENTS OF BRAZIL AND CHINA

In order to comply with the data protection laws of Brazil and China, respectively, we have implemented the same requirements for collecting personal data through Advertising or Targeting Related Technologies, Performance-Related Technologies, and Functionality-Related Technologies on gamespot.com, metacritic.com, tvguide.com, comicvine.com, giantbomb.com, and gamefaqs.com, and their respective subdomains, for the residents of those countries as the requirements set forth above for the collection of personal data through the use of such Technologies from the residents of the EEA and the UK.

Miscellaneous

The following additional information relates to our privacy practices:

For certain jurisdictions your Personal Information may be subject to the laws of the country to which it is transferred, and if permitted by law, may be accessible without notice to you by the courts, law enforcement and national security authorities of that country. By using and participating in any of our Services or providing us with your information, you acknowledge the collection, international transfer, storage, and processing of your information.

Previous Privacy Policy