Privacy Policy

Last updated: April 16, 2026 — Governed by the laws of the State of New York, USA, including the New York SHIELD Act (NY General Business Law § 899-aa et seq.) and applicable federal privacy regulations.

1. Who We Are

FactsChecks.com ("we", "us", "our") is an independently operated fact-checking and informational website based in New York, USA. Our contact email is admin@factschecks.com.

2. Information We Collect

Information You Provide Voluntarily

Contact form submissions: Name, email address, and the content of your message when you use our contact form.
Comment submissions: Name, email address, and comment content if you leave a comment on an article. Email addresses are not publicly displayed.
Newsletter subscriptions: Email address if you subscribe to our newsletter via Beehiiv. Your subscription is managed by Beehiiv (see their privacy policy at beehiiv.com/privacy).
Claim submissions: Name, email address, and the claim text if you submit a claim for fact-checking.

Information Collected Automatically

Usage data: IP address, browser type, referring URL, pages visited, and time on site, collected via server logs and analytics tools such as Google Analytics.
Cookies: We use session cookies for site functionality and analytics cookies (Google Analytics) to understand site traffic. See Section 6 for details.

3. How We Use Your Information

To respond to contact form enquiries and submitted claims;
To moderate and display approved comments;
To send newsletters to subscribers (managed via Beehiiv);
To analyse site traffic and improve our content;
To comply with legal obligations;
To protect the security and integrity of the website.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes.

4. Legal Basis for Processing (New York SHIELD Act)

We implement reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect private information as required by the New York Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security (SHIELD) Act. "Private information" under the SHIELD Act includes combinations of personal identifiers (such as name + email) that are not publicly available.

5. Data Sharing

We share your information only in the following circumstances:

Service providers: Our hosting provider (Hostinger) processes data necessary to operate the website. Analytics data is processed by Google LLC under their privacy policy.
Newsletter platform: Email addresses of subscribers are processed by Beehiiv, Inc. in accordance with their privacy policy.
Legal requirements: We may disclose information if required to do so by law, court order, or governmental authority.

6. Cookies

We use the following types of cookies:

Essential cookies: Required for basic site functionality (e.g., session management, CSRF protection). These cannot be disabled without affecting site functionality.
Analytics cookies: Google Analytics cookies (_ga, _gid, _gat) to help us understand how visitors use the site. You can opt out at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

You can control or delete cookies through your browser settings at any time.

7. Data Retention

Contact form messages and submitted claims: retained for up to 2 years.
Approved comments: retained indefinitely as part of the article record unless you request deletion.
Analytics data: retained per Google Analytics default retention settings (26 months).

8. Your Rights

You have the right to:

Request access to the personal information we hold about you;
Request correction of inaccurate information;
Request deletion of your personal information, subject to any legal obligations;
Unsubscribe from our newsletter at any time using the unsubscribe link in any newsletter email.

To exercise any of these rights, email us at admin@factschecks.com.

9. Children's Privacy

FactsChecks.com is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe we have inadvertently collected such information, please contact us immediately.

10. Third-Party Links

Our website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites. We encourage you to read their privacy policies.

11. Security

We implement industry-standard security measures including HTTPS encryption, prepared SQL statements to prevent injection attacks, and CSRF token protection on all forms. However, no method of internet transmission or electronic storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

12. Governing Law & Jurisdiction

This Privacy Policy is governed by the laws of the State of New York, United States of America. Any disputes arising from this policy are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of courts in New York State.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post the revised policy on this page with an updated date. Continued use of the site after changes take effect constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.

14. Contact

For any privacy-related questions or requests, contact us at: admin@factschecks.com