Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are / About Us

We are NewSage ApS, the company behind Flare ("we", "our", or "us").

NewSage ApS (c/o Flare)
Kronprinsensgade 1, 2
1114 Copenhagen, Denmark
CVR no. 45603024
Email: privacy@flare.co

This notice explains what personal data we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, and what rights you have regarding your data.

About Flare

Flare is a collaborative verification platform that helps make the internet more trustworthy. Our technology detects factual claims across the web and matches them to supporting evidence from credible sources. A community of contributors then verifies these claims, building a traceable record of what we collectively know to be true. The resulting dataset is used to improve the quality of information online and to support the development of more reliable AI systems.

To provide this service, we process personal data from the people who use our platform: readers who view verifications, contributors who verify claims, and visitors to our website and browser extension.

What Personal Data We Collect

Account information

• Email address
• Username
• Profile settings
• Expertise areas

Technical data

• IP address
• Browser type and version
• Device information
• Cookie data
• Product usage events: the pages you visit, the elements you click and the errors that occur in the app (collected through our analytics provider with your consent, see Section 3)
• Session replays on app.flare.co: page layout, clicks, mouse movement, scrolling, the addresses of network requests and public claim and source text. Everything you type, all other text and all images are masked (collected through our analytics provider with your consent, see Section 3)

Public available data

We collect personal data related to the public sources we fact check. To be able to verify we need to process information.

Sources may be articles, posts, news stories etc. and may include personal data.

2. Why We Collect Data (Legal Basis)

To perform our contract with you, Article 6(1)(b)

• Creating and maintaining your account
• Providing the core Flare service: detecting claims, matching them to evidence, and letting you submit, review and record verifications.
• Publishing your username, verifications, votes and reputation metrics on the public parts of the platform.
• Sending you service messages.
• Showing you in-app notifications about claims you took part in.

Our legitimate interest, Article 6(1)(f)

For each purpose below we have weighed the interests, rights and freedoms of the individual.

• Keeping the platform secure and free from abuse, spam and manipulation
• Maintaining, debugging, and developing the platform (not analytics or session replays, which rely on your consent)
• Following up on bug reports you send us: we store each report with your user ID, the page address, recent error messages and your IP address in our analytics tool, also when you have not consented to analytics. If you tick "You can contact me about this report", we also store your email address with the report and use it only to reply. Reports are kept as long as analytics events
• Operating feature flags: when our server decides which version of a feature you get, it tells PostHog the flag and the result with your user ID, without creating an analytics profile. We use this only to run and roll back features, not to analyse how you use Flare
• Calculating reputation metrics and expertise indicators from contributions
• Producing verified datasets from community contributions

Upon your consent, Article 6(1)(a)

• Set analytics cookies and measure how the platform is used (via PostHog, see Section 3 and Section 7)
• Replay your sessions on app.flare.co to find and fix problems (via PostHog, a separate choice that needs analytics, see Section 3 and Section 7)

You can withdraw consent at any time. Withdrawal does not affect processing that took place before it.

3. How We Use Your Data

• Platform functionality: detect claims, match to evidence, enable verification
• Reputation building: create portable professional profiles showing your expertise
• Data quality: generate verified training datasets (anonymized for AI companies)
• Service improvement: analyze usage patterns, fix bugs, develop features
• Communication: show notifications about claims you took part in

Third Parties and Processors

We use PostHog (PostHog, Inc.) as our product analytics provider to understand how people use Flare so we can fix bugs and improve the product. PostHog acts as our data processor under a data processing agreement and stores our analytics data on servers located in the EU (Frankfurt). PostHog analytics rely on cookies and a persistent identifier that lets us recognize a browser across visits, and we enable them only where you have given consent. With your consent to analytics, PostHog collects the pages you visit, the elements you click, the errors that occur in the app and your IP address. If you also accept session replays, PostHog also collects the events of your sessions on app.flare.co, so we can replay them, and where you click and move the mouse (heatmaps). A replay shows the page layout, clicks, mouse movement, scrolling, the addresses of network requests and the public claim and source text on the page. Everything you type, all other text and all images are masked in your browser, before any data leaves your device. When you are signed in, PostHog links this data to your Flare account through your user ID, email address and name. Only Flare staff with access to our analytics tool can view replays. See Section 7 for how to give, refuse, or withdraw that consent.

We may use other third-party providers to operate the platform. Where a provider processes personal data on our behalf, they do so as our processor under a data processing agreement.

What We Don't Do

• We do NOT sell your personal data
• We do NOT use your data for advertising
• We do NOT share personally identifiable information with AI companies

Public Information

• Your verifications and votes are visible to other users
• Your username and reputation metrics are public
• Specific claims you've verified appear in your profile

4. Data Storage & Security

Location: We host Flare on Amazon Web Services in the EU (Frankfurt, Germany). Our analytics provider, PostHog, also stores data in the EU (Frankfurt). PostHog, Inc. is a US company. Under its data processing agreement, PostHog and its sub-processors can access or process data outside the EU, including in the US. These transfers rely on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, under which PostHog is certified, and on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses. You can ask us for a copy at privacy@flare.co.

5. How Long We Keep Data

• Active accounts: data retained while account is active
• Deleted accounts: personal information deleted within 30 days, including from our analytics provider
• Session replays: deleted after 30 days
• Analytics events: kept for up to 7 years, the retention period of our analytics provider
• Verified claims: anonymized contributions may remain in the public dataset
• Legal requirements: some data retained where the law requires it

6. Your Rights (GDPR)

You have the right to:

• Access: request a copy of your data
• Rectification: correct inaccurate information
• Erasure: delete your account and data
• Restrict processing: limit how we use your data
• Data portability: export your data
• Object: object at any time to processing based on our legitimate interest (Article 21)
• Withdraw consent: change permission settings anytime, including analytics cookie consent

How to exercise rights: email privacy@flare.co or use account settings.

7. Cookies & Tracking

We use cookies and similar technologies on flare.co, on app.flare.co and in our browser extension. Strictly necessary cookies are set without consent. On flare.co and app.flare.co, analytics cookies are set and session replay starts only after you have given consent through the cookie banner. The full list of cookies, their purpose and lifetime is in our Cookie Policy.

The browser extension asks for its own choice the first time you open it. You choose whether it sends usage data not linked to your account, usage data linked to your Flare account, or nothing. During the closed beta, usage data not linked to your account is pre-selected, and nothing is sent until you confirm. You can change the choice at any time in the extension menu. The extension has no session replay, and its usage data never contains the pages you visit or the text you select.

8. Children's Privacy

Flare is not intended for users under 18. We do not knowingly collect data from children.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy periodically. We will:

• Post the new version with an updated date
• Tell you about material changes in the product, for example with a notice or a banner
• Require fresh consent if data use changes significantly

10. Contact & Complaints

• Questions: privacy@flare.co
• Supervisory Authority: you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority. In Denmark, this is Datatilsynet.

Datatilsynet
Carl Jacobsens Vej 35
2500 Valby
Tlf. 33 19 32 00
dt@datatilsynet.dk

11. Browser Extension Permissions

Our extension requires these permissions:

• Read the DOM: to detect claims
• Storage: to save your settings
• Network access: to retrieve evidence from sources

When you check a claim, the extension sends the page address and the text you selected to your Flare account. That is how the check works. Usage data is sent only if you turn it on in the extension (see Section 7).

We do NOT:

• Track your browsing outside the platforms where the extension is active
• Access your personal messages
• Monitor your searches

12. Where You Can Find Us

NewSage ApS (c/o Flare)
Kronprinsensgade 1, 2
1114 Copenhagen, Denmark
Email: privacy@flare.co