This Privacy Policy explains how Weltmeldung Media Ltd., the publisher of weltmeldung.de, handles your personal data when you visit our site. We operate in line with UK GDPR and are committed to transparency. For information on cookies, please see our /about-us/cookie-policy/. If you have any questions, contact our Data Protection Officer at privacy@weltmeldung.de.
What information do we collect when you visit weltmeldung.de?
We collect only the personal data you voluntarily provide, such as your email address when you subscribe to our newsletter, and standard technical data like your IP address, browser type and pages viewed. This technical data is gathered automatically through analytics services and cookies, as described in our /about-us/cookie-policy/. We do not collect sensitive categories of personal data unless you choose to share them in a contact message.
When you sign up for our newsletter, we ask for your name and email address. If you submit a tip or a complaint, we may collect your name, email address and the details of your message. Our servers also log connection information for security and performance monitoring, which we retain only as long as necessary.
How do we use your information and on what legal basis?
We use your data to send you the newsletter you requested, to respond to your enquiries, to improve our website based on usage patterns, and to comply with legal obligations. The legal basis for processing is your consent for newsletters, our legitimate interest in operating the site for analytics and security, and legal compliance where required. Affiliate links and commercial partnerships are disclosed in accordance with our /advertising-affiliate-disclosure/.
We never sell your personal data to third parties. We may share data with trusted service providers who help us run the website, send emails or analyse traffic – these providers are contractually bound to process data only on our instructions. Any sponsored content is clearly labelled and does not affect editorial independence.
What are your rights under UK GDPR?
You have the right to access, correct, delete or restrict the use of your personal data, and to withdraw consent at any time. You also have the right to data portability and to object to processing based on legitimate interests. To exercise these rights, contact us at privacy@weltmeldung.de. We will respond within one month. If you are unsatisfied, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office in the UK.
Where we rely on consent (e.g., for newsletters), you can withdraw that consent at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any email or by contacting us. We provide straightforward mechanisms to manage your preferences. Your rights are further explained in our /terms-of-use/.
How this works in practice
Suppose you sign up for our weekly newsletter. You provide your name and email address. We use that data solely to send you the newsletter and to measure open rates for improvement. You can unsubscribe at any time; when you do, we delete your data from our mailing list within 30 days. If you later contact us with a complaint about an article, we keep that correspondence securely for six months to handle your query, after which it is deleted. In both cases, your data is not used for any other purpose and is never shared with advertisers. This example illustrates our general approach: collect only what is needed, use it transparently, and delete it when no longer required.
Who controls your data and where is it processed?
Weltmeldung Media Ltd., a private company registered in Gibraltar (company number C 92009, Malta Business Registry), is the data controller for weltmeldung.de. Our registered office is Office 9, Business Centre, Valletta, 0000. As a publisher with operations in Sweden and Germany, we process data primarily within the European Economic Area, but some third-party services (e.g., email delivery platforms) may involve transfers to countries with adequate data protection safeguards.
We have entered into standard contractual clauses with any processor outside the EEA to ensure your data receives equivalent protection. For more details on our corporate structure and funding, see our /ownership-funding/ page. We do not place reliance on ad-tech profiling; any automated decisions are limited to newsletter personalisation based on your interests.
How long do we keep your data and how do we protect it?
We retain your personal data only as long as necessary for the purpose it was collected – for newsletter subscribers, until you unsubscribe; for enquiry correspondence, up to 12 months after resolution; for server logs, 30 days. We use industry-standard security measures including encryption, access controls and regular audits to prevent unauthorised access, loss or alteration. Our staff are trained in data protection practices.
We review our retention schedules annually. Where data is no longer needed, it is securely erased or anonymised. In the event of a data breach, we will notify you and the relevant supervisory authority within 72 hours as required by UK GDPR.
How to contact us or make a complaint
If you have any concerns about how we handle your data, please email our Data Protection Officer at privacy@weltmeldung.de or write to us at Office 9, Business Centre, Valletta, 0000, Malta. You can also reach our editorial team via /about-us/contact/. You have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office if you believe we have not complied with data protection law.
We aim to resolve any issue within 30 days. If your concern relates to a specific article or our editorial standards, you may also use our /complaints-procedure/.
In short
We collect the minimum data needed to provide you with news and services, and we process it transparently and securely. You are in control of your data – you can access, correct or delete it at any time by contacting us. Our full privacy commitment is set out above, and we encourage you to read it alongside our /about-us/cookie-policy/.