Privacy Policy

This page informs you of the policies of GRASS regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of personal data provided by users through the use of websites under GRASS’s ownership, including www.grass.org.ge; www.factcheck.ge, as well as the use of information provided to GRASS in other ways, such as mail, social media platforms, telephone, an online/offline events. 

Please note that this policy fully applies to GRASS’s project - FactCheck Georgia (FactCheck.ge).

GRASS defends the principles of lawfulness, confidentiality, and transparency. Therefore, below, we provide you with all the information related to processing personal data that we may collect from visitors to our website and/or users of our services.

Who collects your information

Non-Entrepreneurial (Non-Commercial) Legal Entity - Georgia's Reforms Associates (GRASS)

Identification Number: 406077579 

Address: Tbilisi, 0112, Aghmashenebeli Ave. №189, 3rd floor

E-mail: grass@grassgroup.org; info@factcheck.ge 

When do we collect your personal data?

Through visiting our website: While GRASS’s websites do not use cookies to collect information, we use Google Analytics to see how people come to our website and to see which articles are most popular. You can read the Google Analytics privacy policy here. Our website also uses a Facebook pixel, which helps us to make our Facebook adverts (when we run them) more relevant as it tracks which pages people look at.

Through e-mails or contact forms: You can contact us by sending us an email to grass@grassgroup.org/info@factcheck.ge, by using our contact forms, including the “Check Your Fact” service available on factcheck.ge, or through an email address designed for responding to correction requests (appeal@factcheck.ge). In these cases, information such as your email address, name, and, in some cases, telephone number will be collected.

Through our social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X): When you interact with content posted by GRASS owned pages on social media platforms, for example, by commenting or reacting to it. 

You may also interact with us through direct messages on these platforms.

Through registering for our newsletter: if you request to receive our newsletter by email, please know that when you register, we will ask for your email address in order to send it. You are able to remove your consent at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link on the newsletter or by contacting us. We use Mailchimp to send you our newsletter. You can read Mailchimp’s privacy policy here.

Through the direct WhatsApp service: you can register for our WhatsApp service to receive the fact-checking articles directly on your mobile phone. To do this, we will require that you provide your telephone number. You can read WhatsApp’s privacy policy here.

Through applying for jobs/internships: If you apply for potential employment at GRASS, recruitment data, including interview notes of non-selected applicants, will be held for 2 years after the closing of the position recruitment process. In case you want us to destroy that information earlier, you can communicate that request by contacting us. As for selected applicants, employee data is held for the duration of employment and then by any additional time required under the terms of certain grant agreements in which the employer was employed.

For what purpose do we process your personal data?

If you send us an email or use one of our contact forms, we will use your data to manage your request and respond to you. For example, if a user decides to send an appeal regarding our fact-checking articles on appeals@factcheck.ge, we will use the user’s email address to respond to that appeal.

If you interact with our social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X) by commenting, reacting or in other forms, we will use publicly available data to measure and analyse user interactions to determine which posts do well in terms of shares and engagement. You can find Facebook’s privacy policy and Instagram’s privacy policy here. TikTok’s privacy policy is here, and X’s privacy policy is here.

If you register for one of our newsletters, your data will be used to send you the newsletter.

If you register for our WhatsApp service, we will use your data to send you fact-checking articles or other information regarding our services directly to your mobile phone.

If you apply for a job/internship, we will use your data to assess your application.

What is the legitimacy for the processing of your personal data?

The main basis of legitimacy to process your data is the consent that you yourself give us when interacting with our website or social media pages or by directly contacting us. Additionally, we may process your data based on your legitimate interests to send you information about our articles and other activities.

How long will we keep your personal data?

GRASS will process your personal data for as long as we require it to serve the aforementioned purposes for which it has been collected, and after that, we delete it.

The period of how long GRASS retains data is determined by the purpose of the data collected and the fulfilment of said purpose, the reasons why the data is collected, and storage periods required according to contractual and regulatory requirements.

What are your rights when you provide us with personal data?

If we process your data, you should know that your rights are:

• Your right of access – You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.
• You have the right to obtain the rectification of inaccurate personal data concerning you without undue delay.
• Your right to erasure – You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information.
• Your right to restriction of processing – You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information (with the exception of cases when they must continue to be processed for a legitimate reason or the execution or defence of legal claims).
• Your right to object processing – You have the right to object to the automated processing of your personal information, for example, when it is used for profiling purposes.
• Your right to data portability – You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organization, or to you whenever technically possible

At GRASS, we process data based on your consent. Please be informed that you can withdraw it at any time. To exercise your rights, send us an email at grass@grassgroup.org/info@factcheck.ge. If you are not satisfied with the exercise of your rights, you can file a claim with the competent data protection authority.

Modifications

At GRASS, we will only use your personal data as established in this privacy policy, which is in force at the time we collect your information. In the event that we make a modification to the processing of your data, you will be informed in a timely manner.