Disqus Privacy Policy
Updated December 30, 2022
This Privacy Policy tells you how Disqus collects, uses, sells, discloses
and protects data relating to you in connection with our Service (as defined
below), as well as your choices regarding our collection and use of this data.
1. INTRODUCTION
a. Overview. Disqus offers an online public comment sharing platform where users login and create profiles to participate in conversations with peers and enjoy an interactive experience. Use of our platform and software (collectively the “Service”) is subject to the terms of this Privacy Policy. The Service is a public platform and Disqus or others may search for, see, use, or re-post any of your User Content (as defined in our Terms of Use) that you post through the Service. Disqus uses and shares personal data for marketing purposes, including cross-contest behavioral advertising.
b. Applicability and third-party websites and services. Disqus offers an online commenting service that other websites use to enable discussion among their users. This Privacy Policy applies to the data Disqus collects about users of the Service and does not apply to the data collection practices of any website that uses the Service or other website linked to from the Service. Your browsing activity and interaction with any other website, including those that you link to from the Service, is subject to that website's privacy policy.
c. Your Privacy Rights. You have the right to ask us for a copy of the data we have collected about you, to have it corrected if it is demonstrably inaccurate, to have it deleted, and to restrict the collection and use of any sensitive personal information. You can exercise those rights here.
d. Children’s Privacy. The Service is not intended for use by children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect or sell personal information from children under 16 or knowingly allow such persons to register for an account on the service. In the event that we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under the age of 16, we will delete it. If you believe that we might have collected personal information from a child under 16, please contact us.
2. THE DATA WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU
a. Personal data, or personal information, means any information about a person that can be linked back to that person, or their device. Not all data can be linked back to you, for instance when it becomes part of a statistical model but isn’t maintained at an individual level, or when it is anonymized, meaning it still has some individual attributes, but it can’t be linked to the person they came from (e.g. a postal code, gender, and broad interest categories). We collect, use, and share both personal data and these other types of data.
b. We collect, use, store and transfer the following kinds of personal data about you:
i. Identity Data includes first name, last name, username or similar identifier, date of birth, email address, telephone number, and mailing address.
ii. Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, unique Cookie ID, Device ID, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access the Service.
iii. Profile Data includes your username and password, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses, marital status, gender, title.
iv. Usage Data includes information about how you use the Service, and the content of comments that you post.
v. Aggregated Data includes statistical or demographic data for any purpose.
vi. Sensitive Personal We do not intentionally collect any personal data about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health or genetic or biometric data, or information about criminal convictions and offences. However, if you make comments using the Service that include such data about yourself it will be publicly available and may be processed by Disqus or others.
3. HOW IS YOUR PERSONAL DATA COLLECTED?
We use different methods to collect data from and about you including:
Direct interactions. This includes personal data you provide when you create an account or leave a comment.
Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our Service, we may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns.
Cookies: Please click here for further details about specific types of cookies we use.
Log File Information: Server logs may collect Technical Data such as your IP address, browser type, and information about the number of clicks and how you interact with links on the Service, Partner Sites, domain names, landing pages, pages viewed, and other such information.
Pixels Information: When you use the Service, we may employ pixels, clear gifs (also known as web beacons) which are used to collect Technical Data and information such as online usage patterns. We may also use clear gifs in HTML-based emails sent to our users to track which emails are opened and which links or advertisements are clicked by recipients.
Third parties or publicly available sources. We may obtain or receive personal data about you from analytics providers such as Google that may process data from EEA residents outside the EEA, advertising partners listed here, third-party data brokers who sell personal data, and Identity and Contact Data from third party connections or log-ins for example Facebook Connect, Google or Twitter by “following”, “liking” or linking your account to the Service.
4. TARGETED ADVERTISING and AD PARTNERS.
Advertising is the predominant way Disqus makes money. Advertising revenue allows Disqus to operate, support and improve the Service. Disqus uses, and also shares with third party ad partners and affiliates who use cookie IDs, device IDs (including mobile), hashed email addresses, IP address, ISP and browser information, demographic or interest data, content viewed and actions taken on the Service or Partner Sites, including information about the websites you’ve viewed and advertisements you’ve interacted within order to provide you with more relevant advertising targeted to your preferences and interests derived from your interaction with the Service, Partner Sites or other third party websites. For a list of third-party ad partners that Disqus is currently working with click here. Disqus may also send you email newsletters and email marketing messages if you have provided us with permission, or consented to receive such emails, as required in the jurisdiction in which you reside. Email marketing messages may be tailored to your interests based on the information described above in this section, for information about how to opt-out and utilize our “Do Not Sell or Share” option please click here.
We partner and share data with third parties that collect information across various channels, including offline and online, for purposes of delivering more relevant advertising to you or your business. Our partners use this information to recognize you across different channels and platforms, over time, (including but not limited to, computers, mobile devices, addressable TV, or other media), for marketing, analytics,
attribution, and reporting purposes.
5. LEGAL BASIS FOR USE, AND HOW WE USE PERSONAL DATA
Privacy laws in the European Economic Area (EEA) and certain other countries require us to identify the “legal basis” for our use of personal data. We use personal data as you have consented for us to do so, or as necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party), but only where your rights and interests are not negatively impacted. We may also use it where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation, or to protect the health, safety, or legal rights of any person.
We have set out below, in a table format, a description of the ways we use personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.
Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you have any additional questions.
d.
6. DISCLOSURES OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA
a. We may sell or share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table in the previous section.
Zeta Global. Disqus user data is shared with our affiliated company Zeta Global for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising. Disqus data is merged by Zeta with data from other online and offline sources to inform marketing decisions and messages on behalf of advertisers (brands and agencies). Zeta may also share data obtained from Disqus with these advertisers.
We also share personal data with external third parties for similar purposes. These third parties may include other companies who participate in cross-context behavioral advertising, data brokers, our clients, our service providers (e.g., companies who provide web hosting or analytics services), or as required to comply with law enforcement requests. For a list of external third parties, please click here. We may also share personal data with advertisers with whom you have already shared your data interest categories based on your online activity, for marketing purposes.
We may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new company may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy notice. We may also engage in limited data sharing to evaluate and test our potential data partners. Where such testing takes place, the data is encrypted or encoded before it is shared. Furthermore, such sharing is subject to appropriate contractual provisions and the data is promptly deleted after the testing is completed.
In addition, we may access, preserve, and disclose your personal data, including your Identity, Contact, or Technical data, if we believe doing so is required or appropriate to comply with law enforcement requests and legal process. We may also access, preserve, and disclose such personal data if we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect your, our or others' rights, property, or safety, or to investigate fraud.
We require all third parties with whom we share data to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law.
7. YOUR CHOICES REGARDING COLLECTION OF YOUR INFORMATION.
Please visit our Privacy Choices page to view and/or exercise your choices and legal rights with respect to the personal data we collect.
8. DATA RETENTION.
a. We will only retain your Personal Data for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.
b. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.
9. SECURITY.
a. Disqus uses commercially reasonable safeguards to preserve the integrity and security of all information collected through the Service. To protect your privacy and security, we take reasonable steps (such as requesting a unique password) to verify your identity before granting you access to your account. You are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your unique password and account information, and for controlling access to your email communications from Disqus. Disqus is not responsible for the functionality or security measures of any third party.
10. Your Rights.
Depending on the laws where you live, you may have one or more of the following rights under local laws. Disqus extends these rights to all individuals, regardless of where they live, including the right to:
Request a copy of personal data we have collected about you
Opt-out of our sale or sharing of personal data about you
Request that we delete data we have collected about you
Request that we correct data, restrict our use of data, or delete sensitive personal data that you may have previously provided in a comment (due to technical limitations, all of these requests will be handled as requests to delete data)
Visit our Privacy Choices page for more details or to exercise your rights.
We are required to publish statistics on how many people exercised their privacy rights in the previous year. The following statistics are for people who made requests relating to Disqus during the twelve months ending December, 20, 2023. These statistics cover all requests received from individuals around the world.
Access requests: 740
Email verifications not completed: 70
Deletion requests: 2591
Email verifications not completed: 239
Do-Not-Sell requests: 6310
Email verifications not completed: 3435
Disqus received a high volume of automated, unverified, and duplicative requests in late 2023 which resulted in a large number of unverified and therefore uncompleted requests.
11. INTERNATIONAL DATA TRANSFERS.
For users based in the European Economic Area (EEA) we may share your personal data within the Disqus Group or with external third parties. This may involve transferring your data outside the EEA. Specifically, data will be processed by technical support teams in the United States, India, and the Philippines.
Whenever your personal data is processed outside of the EEA, we protect it using specific contracts approved by the European Commission, which ensures that personal data the same protection it has in Europe regardless of where it is processed.
12. GENERAL
a. Contact. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please email us at privacy@disqus.com, or contact us by mail at 3 Park Avenue, 33rd Floor, New York, NY 10016.
b. Changes to Privacy Policy. Disqus may, in its sole discretion, modify or update this Privacy Policy from time to time, and so you should review this page periodically. When we change the policy, we will update the ‘last modified’ date at the bottom of this page. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of any changes to this policy means you accept such changes.