Privacy Policy

PRIVACY POLICY   

Last Updated: 2023-04-27

Anime News Network LLC (“ANN”, “we”, “us” or our”) takes the privacy of personal information very seriously. This Privacy Policy describes the manner in which we collect, use, disclose, and otherwise treat personal information in the course of providing our website located at www.animenewsnetwork.com (the “Website”), your choices regarding the use, access, and correction of your personal information, and the services or resources offered by use through the Website (all of which are collectively referred to as the “Services”).

ANN does not sell personal identifiable information, or share it with any 3rd party except as provided in this document.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Collection and Use of Personal Information
• Information Collected Automatically
• Disclosure of Personal Information
• International Data Transfers
• Legal Basis for Processing
• Third Party Sites
• Security of Personal Information
• Retention of Personal Information
• Children's Privacy Rights
• Your Rights
• Updates to our Privacy Policy
• Contact Us

COLLECTION AND USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

“Personal information” means information that allows an individual to be identified, either directly or indirectly, alone or together with other information. This does not normally include any business contact information or anonymized information.

The types of personal information we collect will depend on how you use the Services. The personal information we collect may include:

Identity Data: We may collect your first name, last name, or similar identifier, birth year, gender, or other basic demographic information.

Account/Login information: We collect your username and password, email address, and (if you provide it) your social media handle to manage your account.

Forum information: You may choose to provide us with personal information when you post a comment in public areas of the Website, such as in the Forum or the Encyclopedia. Please note that any information you choose to post in a public area of the Websites will be accessible to all visitors and may be used by them without limitation. We reserve the right to remove content that we consider to be offensive, inappropriate or unlawful.

Survey and Contest information: We occasionally conduct surveys to get to better know our readership. In these surveys we are only interested in the statistical information gathered and we do not link survey answers provided with your personal information. However, to provide prizes associated with contests, we may ask you to provide contact information.

Technical Data: We may collect your internet protocol (IP) address, host name, internet service provider (ISP), login data, browser type and version, browser language, operating system, date/time stamp, clickstream data, time zone setting and basic geolocation, device type, and other technology on the devices you use to access our Website and Services.

Usage Data: We may collectinformation about how you use our Website and Services, including, for example, the time and duration of your use or your reading history. We may collect your personal information from you, third parties, and online public resources where permitted by law.

We may collect other information that you choose to provide to us, or that we collect with your consent.

We use personal information to provide the Services. This includes:

• To set up your account, establish, and maintain a relationship with you;
• To verify your identity or contact you;
• To administer contests and other promotional opportunities we offer;
• To process payments;
• To connect with you if you have an inquiry; 
• To monitor, protect and secure our systems, including against fraud; 
• To better understand how you use our Services and Website;
• To meet audit, legal, and regulatory processes and requirements; and
• Otherwise with your consent or where permitted by law. 

We may use your personal information to send you newsletters and other communications about the Services. You can opt-out of receiving promotional communications from us by following the opt-out or “unsubscribe” instructions provided in your email. Please note that upon unsubscribing, you will continue to receive transactional and account-related electronic messages from us.

INFORMATION COLLECTED AUTOMATICALLY

Visiting our Website: We collect the IP (Internet protocol) addresses of all visitors to our Website and other related information such as page requests, browser type, operating system and average time spent on our Website, browser type, operating system and average time spent on our Website. We use this information to help us understand our Website activity and to improve our Website.

Cookies: Our Website uses a technology called "cookies". A cookie is a tiny element of data that our Website sends to a user's browser, which may then be stored on the user's hard drive so that we can recognize the user when they return. We use cookies to remember your preferences and to authenticate you. You may set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie or to not accept certain cookies. However, if you decide not to accept cookies from our Website, you may not be able to take advantage of all of the Website features.

Analytics: We may use third party service providers like Google Analytics to collect information about your use of the Website, such as the features used and time spent on the Website, to help us better understand our users and improve our Website. The information we gather is used in an aggregate, non-identifiable form. For information about how information is processed in connection with Google Analytics please read the Google Analytics Policy here.

Ad Networks: We may use advertising networks to serve advertisements on our Website and on third-party websites or other media (e.g., social networking platforms). This enables us and these third parties to target advertisements to you for products and services in which you might be interested based on your browsing and purchase history. These third-party advertising services may use cookies and other tracking technologies to measure the effectiveness of ads and to personalize advertising content for you. These third-party services are governed by each third party's privacy policy, not this Policy.

All or partial advertising on this Website or App is managed by Playwire LLC. If Playwire publisher advertising services are used, Playwire LLC may collect and use certain aggregated and anonymized data for advertising purposes. To learn more about the types of data collected, how data is used and your choices as a user, please visit https://www.playwire.com/privacy-policy.

You may go to the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada (“DAAC”) Opt-Out Tool, for information about opting out of targeted advertising and the choices you have regarding information circulated among DAAC companies. You may also go to the Network Advertising Initiative (“NAI”) Consumer Opt-Out Page for information about opting out of targeted advertising and the choices you have regarding information circulated among NAI members. Please note that when using these ad industry opt-out tools, you may need to execute the opt-out on each browser or device that you use.

Opting out from one or more companies listed on the DAAC Opt-Out Tool, or the Consumer Opt-Out Page will opt you out from those companies’ delivery of targeted content or ads, but it does not mean you stop receiving ads through our Website or on other websites. You may continue to receive ads, for example, based on the particular website that you are viewing. Also, if your browsers are configured to reject cookies when you opt out on the DAAC or NAI websites, your opt-out may not be effective.

DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Affiliates: We may transfer personal information to our related companies to make it easier for customers to use services provided on various platforms by entities with which information is jointly used; to announce information related to products, services, or the like that is considered to be helpful to customers; and to process each customer's Personal Information and create statistical reports that cannot be used to identify an individual.

Service Providers: In connection with our Services, we may transfer (or otherwise make available) personal information to third parties who provide services on our behalf (including affiliates acting in this capacity). For example, we may use service providers to host our Website, store data and provide back-up (including cloud-based service providers), process payments, or provide data analytics. Our service providers are given the information they need to perform their designated functions, and we do not authorize them to use or disclose personal information for their own marketing or other purposes. For more information about the way in which our service providers treat personal information, please contact us as set out in the “Contact Us” section below.

Sale of Business: We may transfer personal information as an asset in connection with a prospective or completed merger, acquisition or sale (including transfers made as part of insolvency or bankruptcy proceeding) involving all or part of the Website or as part of a corporate reorganization or other change in corporate control.

Legal: The Website and its service providers may disclose your personal information in response to a search warrant or other legally valid inquiry or order (which may include lawful access by US or other foreign governmental authorities, courts or law enforcement agencies), to other organizations in the case of investigating a breach of an agreement or contravention of law or detecting, suppressing or preventing fraud, or as otherwise required or permitted by applicable US or other law.

INTERNATIONAL DATA TRANSFERS

Personal information may be maintained and processed by us or our third party service providers outside of Canada or the United States. In these circumstances, the governments, courts, law enforcement, or regulatory agencies of that country may be able to obtain access to your personal information through the laws of the foreign country, which may have different privacy and data protection laws that may or may not be as comprehensive as in your jurisdiction. By providing us with your personal information, you acknowledge such transfer of information out of your jurisdiction.

CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS

To the extent we sell your personal information as the term “sell” is defined under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information by us to third parties at any time. You may submit a request to opt-out by e-mailing your request to our privacy officer at the email provided on the “Contact Us” page with attn: “CCPA Request”.

In addition, exercising your right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information does not mean that you will stop seeing ads or that you will stop seeing interest-based ads. To learn more about interest-based advertising across sites and additional opt-out choices, you should visit one or more of the following industry opt-out links: http://optout.aboutads.info/#/, http://optout.networkadvertising.org/#, and http://www.aboutads.info/appchoices). Where you opt-out of the sale for purposes of the CCPA, but do not opt-out of interest-based advertising more generally, you may continue to receive ads tailored to your interests based upon personal information not sold by us or sold by other sources from which you have not opted out.

If you are a California resident, you also have the right, under California Civil Code Section 1798.83, to view a list of the third parties to whom we have disclosed Personal Information for their direct marketing purposes in the prior calendar year. Please click here to view the list.

LEGAL BASIS FOR PROCESSING

Depending on your jurisdiction, we rely on one or more of the following legal grounds (as appropriate) to process personal information:

• To enter and perform a contract with you or to perform any steps you require from us before entering into a contract.
• To pursue our legitimate business interests in establishing, managing or concluding our relationship with you.
• Where you have specifically consented to us processing your personal information.
• To comply with our legal obligations and establish, exercise or defend our legal rights.

For more information on what our legal basis for processing is in relation to your personal information please reach out to us using the methods outlined in the Contact Ussection

Where personal information is processed with consent, you may (subject to contractual and legal restrictions) refuse to provide your consent, or choose to withdraw your consent, to our processing of your personal information by contacting us. Note that if you refuse to consent, or withdraw your consent, to certain processing of your personal information, we may not be able to provide certain of our services and this may result in the deletion of your account. To delete your account, please click here.

THIRD PARTY SITES

Third Party Links: Our Website may contain links to other websites that Website does not own or operate. We provide links to third party websites as a convenience to the user. These links are not intended as an endorsement of or referral to the linked websites. The linked websites have separate and independent privacy policies, notices and terms of use. We do not have any control over such websites, and therefore we have no responsibility or liability for the manner in which the organizations that operate such linked websites may collect, use or disclose, secure and otherwise treat personal information. We encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.

Social Media: We may offer you the opportunity to engage with Website content on or through third-party social networking websites, plug-ins and applications. When you engage with us or our content on or through third-party social networking websites, plug-ins and applications, you may allow us to have access to certain information associated with your social media account (e.g., name, username, email address, profile picture, gender). We may use this information to personalize your experience on the Website and on the third-party social networking websites, plug-ins and applications, and to provide you with other information you may request.

SECURITY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We have implemented reasonable physical, technological, and administrative security measures designed to protect the personal information in our control against loss or theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification. We limit access to personal information to our employees and service providers who require access in connection with their role or function. Despite these measures, since no system or security measure is completely secure, it is possible that personal information may be lost, stolen or accessed without authorization.

The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of the Website, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone. We urge you to be careful about giving out information in public areas of the Services like message boards, which any visitor can view.

RETENTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Personal information is maintained on our servers or those of our service providers and is accessible by authorized employees, representatives and agents who require access for the purposes identified in this Privacy Policy.

We retain personal information for as long as necessary for the fulfilment of the purposes for which it was collected, in accordance with prudent business practices on general document retention, professional obligations or as otherwise required by law.

CHILDREN'S PRIVACY RIGHTS

Our Website and Services are targeted to individuals older than 13 years old, and we do not willingly collect personal information from minors under 13 years old.

YOUR RIGHTS

You may request access to or correction of your personal information in our custody or control, by writing to us as described below. You may also have the right, in specified circumstances depending on your jurisdiction, to object to our use of your personal information, to request the deletion of your personal information or restrict its use, to request a copy of the information you have provided to us be transferred to another person. You also have the right to withdraw your consent to our collection, use or disclosure of your personal information. Please note that if you withdraw your consent we may not be able to provide you with a particular product or service. We will explain the impact to you at the time to help you with your decision.

Your rights are subject to applicable legal restrictions and we may take appropriate steps to verify your identity before responding to your request. To exercise any of these rights, please contact us in writing using the contact information in the “Contact Us” section below.

UPDATES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY

This Privacy Policy may be updated periodically to reflect changes to our personal information practices. The revised Privacy Policy will be posted on our Website. We strongly encourage you to please refer to this Privacy Policy often for the latest information about our personal information practices.

CONTACT US

Please contact our Privacy Officer if you have any questions, comments or complaints about this Privacy Policy or the personal information practices of us or our service providers.