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Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement

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The content of this article is provided for information purposes only and is not intended to be, nor does it constitute, any form of personal advice. Investments in a currency other than sterling are exposed to currency exchange risk. Currency exchange rates are constantly changing, which may affect the value of the investment in sterling terms. You could lose money in sterling even if the stock price rises in the currency of origin. Stocks listed on overseas exchanges may be subject to additional dealing and exchange rate charges, and may have other tax implications, and may not provide the same, or any, regulatory protection as in the UK.

This is the Privacy and Cookies Policy for The Motley Fool Limited website hosted at https://www.fool.co.uk/help/privacy-and-cookie-statement/ (“we”,”us” and “our site”). The site is operated by or on behalf of The Motley Fool Limited. We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

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Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it.

By engaging with our website you acknowledge you have read and understood this privacy policy.

For the purposes of European Economic Area data protection law, (the “Data Protection Law”), the data controller is: The Motley Fool Limited, 5 New Street Square, London, EC4A 3TW United Kingdom ([email protected]).

1. The information we collect about you

We will collect and process the following personal data from you:

1.1 Information you give us

This is information about you that you give us directly when you interact with us.

  1. Signing Up for Content Delivered via Email: When you sign up for a report or other content delivered by email, we will ask for your email address. We may also ask for your name as well as capturing your IP address.
  2. Subscribing to a Share Tipping Service: When subscribing to any of our share tipping services, we need to know the sort of information typically used for credit card transactions, such as your name, address, telephone number, and credit card number and expiration date. We encrypt all of this information using Secure Socket Layers (SSL) technology.
  3. Other Services: We may also ask for additional information when providing special, personalised services. If you don’t want to provide the information requested, you certainly don’t have to, but you will not be able to take advantage of such offerings. For example, if we launch a text alert feature, we wouldn’t be able to send you any alerts unless you provide us with your mobile number. On occasion, we may also ask you for other personal information in connection with surveys, sweepstakes or other promotional offers running on our site but again, your participation in these features is purely voluntary.

1.2 Information we collect about you from using our site:

  1. While on our site, we automatically log certain information about how you’re using our site. This information may include the URL that you just came from, your IP address (or a partially anonymised IP address) and the pages you visit while on our site.
  2. We may place a pixel on pages on our site, or those of our advertisers and partners. This enables us to record in our server logs that a specific user ID has visited a particular page. This data allows us to analyse and determine our audience’s behavioural characteristics, which helps us to optimise our site, advertisement placement, and marketing focus.

1.3 Information we receive from other sources:

We allow our partners to collect certain information when you visit our site. They may utilize cookies, pixels, beacons, or other technologies to collect and use information about you during your visit to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements they feel you would like.

To learn more about this behavioural advertising, including information on how to opt-out, please visit the websites of the Digital Advertising Alliance, at www.aboutads.info, the Networking Advertising Initiative at www.networkadvertising.org/choices/ and the Information  Commissioner’s Office, https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/online/cookies/.

2. The legal bases we rely on

The law on data protection sets out a number of different reasons for which we may collect and process your personal data in certain circumstances, including:

2.1 Consent

We can collect and process your data with your consent.

  • For example, if you have given your consent to receiving marketing material from us at the point we collected your information.

2.2 Contractual obligations

We need your personal data to comply with our contractual obligations.

  • For example, where you have provided us with your email address to receive our services, we will use this information in order to effectively deliver and communicate our services.

2.3 Legal compliance

If the law requires us to, we may need to collect and process your data.

  • For example, we can pass on details of people involved in fraud or other criminal activity to applicable law enforcement.

2.4 Legitimate interest

We may require your data to pursue our legitimate interests in a way which might reasonably be expected as part of running our business and which does not materially impact your rights, freedom or interests.

  • For example, it is in our legitimate interests to ensure that content from our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and your computer and we provide you with the information, products and services that you request from us.

3. How we use your information

We will use this information in our legitimate interests, where we have considered these are not overridden by your rights:

  • To administer our site and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes.
  • To keep our site safe and secure.
  • For measuring or understanding the effectiveness of advertising we serve to you and others, and to deliver relevant advertising to you.
  • To keep you informed about products and services similar to the ones you subscribe to.
  • To improve our site to ensure that content is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer.
  • To allow you to participate in interactive features of our service, when you choose to do so.
  • Internal research: Cookies (which are discussed further below) and the other information we automatically track, are used to help us better understand how our audience uses our site as well as for internal research on users’ demographics and interests.

4. Our promotional updates and communications

Where permitted by one of the legal bases above, we will use your personal information for marketing analysis and to provide you with promotional update communications by email about our products/services and those of our business partners.

You can object to further marketing at any time by: (i) checking and updating your contact details within your account page (https://www.fool.co.uk/account/); (ii) selecting the “unsubscribe” link at the end of all our marketing and promotional update communications to you; or (iii) sending us an email to [email protected].

5. Where your information is stored

The data that we collect from you is transferred to, and may be stored at, a destination outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”) that is not subject to equivalent Data Protection Law. For our purposes, the information we collect is processed by our parent company, The Motley Fool, LLC (“Fool US”) in the United States of America and some of this data is stored in the US.

We may transfer your personal information outside the EEA:

  • In order to store it.
  • In order to enable us to provide goods or services to you and fulfil our contract with you. This includes order fulfilment, processing of payment details, and the provision of support services.
  • Where we are legally required to do so.
  • In order to facilitate the operation of our group of businesses, where it is in our legitimate interests and we have concluded these are not overridden by your rights.

Where your information is transferred outside the EEA, we will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is subject to appropriate safeguards, such as relying on a recognised legal adequacy mechanism, and that it is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy.

6. How long we keep your information

We retain personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil any legal obligations we may have as well as for purposes of processing your information (for example, if you continue to subscribe to one of our services, we will need your information to deliver the service to you). Any personal data that we hold in relation to our contractual obligations towards you as a subscriber to any of our subscription services, will be held for a minimum of six years following the date of cancellation of your subscription. We may also retain aggregate information beyond this time for research purposes and to help us develop and improve our services. You cannot be identified from aggregate information retained or used for these purposes.

7. Cookies and other technologies

Cookies contain bits of data that websites such as ours place on your computer’s hard drive for record keeping purposes. Cookies can make the internet more useful by collecting and storing information about your preferences on a particular site and help websites operate more efficiently. Cookies and similar technologies enable you to be remembered when using that computer or device to interact with websites and online services and can be used to manage a range of features and content as well as storing searches and presenting personalised content.

We use our cookies:

  1. With the aim of optimising our website and improving member experience. Cookies help us estimate our audience size, determine usage patterns and help us better target content and advertisements based on our users’ interests.
  2. We also use cookies so you can, for example, access any premium content that you have subscribed to.
  3. You have the option of not accepting the cookies we set. However, if you reject our cookies, you will not be able to take advantage of most of the features on our site, including subscription-based services.

8. The Cookies We Set

Below you’ll find the cookies that we set when you visit Fool.co.uk and their purpose. To help you better understand why we’re setting them, we’ve used the categories and definitions set by the International Chamber of Commerce (“ICC”):

  1. Strictly Necessary: cookies that enable the services that you have specifically asked or paid for;
  2. Performance: cookies that collect information on how visitors use our site including the pages visited and most frequented as well as the sources of our traffic. They are used to help us improve how the site works;
  3. Functionality: cookies that help us remember the choices you have made so we can provide you with a more personalised experience; and
  4. Advertising: cookies used to deliver more relevant ads, and to make sure you don’t see the same adverts over and over again.
Cookie Name Purpose Category
__gads This cookie is used by DoubleClick by Google to serve ads on our site. Performance
_ga This cookie is used by Google Analytics to measure how visitors use our site. Performance
_gid This cookie is used by Google Universal Analytics which we use to measure how visitors use our site. Performance
_gat This cookie is used to throttle request rate to prevent repeated requests. Performance
AcceptCookiesCookie This cookie is used to indicate whether you have accepted our Privacy & Cookie statement. Functionality
fivp This cookie recognizes repeat visits to our site and measures site traffic and usage patterns. Performance
fivs This cookie is used to track activity that occurs during a visitor’s session on our site and will measure site traffic and usage patterns. Performance
PHPSESSID This cookie is used by the web server to manage your browsing session. Strictly Necessary
Oookie This cookie keeps track of whether or not you have registered with our site. Functionality
Fool_subinfo This cookie stores which subscriptions you have. Functionality
wordpress_logged_in_[identifier] This cookie allows the user interface of our site to know if you are logged in or not. Strictly Necessary
wordpress_sec_[identifier] This cookie stores information related to secure authentication. Strictly Necessary
wordpress_test_cookie This cookie allows us to know whether or not your browser accepts cookies. Strictly Necessary
_prequalified This cookie is used to track activity that occurs during a visitor’s session on our site after they use our Credit Card Eligibility Checker tool. Performance

9. Cookies set by our partners and other data processors

  1. We have several partners who also set cookies on our pages. These partners include companies that help us better understand how to serve you, companies that serve our house ads, power the tools on our site, and provide you with a consistent online experience across browsers and devices.
    1. Some of these partners include:
      Partner(s) Purpose Category
      Google Analytics; Crazy Egg; Hotjar To measure site traffic, usage patterns, the performance of the contents of our web pages, and to poll users for feedback. Performance
      DoubleClick; Atlas Solutions To serve our “house” ads (adverts promoting our products and services). These cookies help provide more relevant advertising. Advertising
      YouTube; Facebook To allow you to use their functionality to control the functions of videos posted on our site (e.g., pause, volume control, playback, etc.). Functionality
      Segment.io To help our management of marketing services on our site. Performance
      Facebook; Twitter; Google; LinkedIn; Reddit To remember who you are so social sharing buttons work correctly. Functionality
      Facebook The Facebook pixel is an analytics tool that allows us to measure the effectiveness of our Facebook advertising campaigns by understanding the actions people take once they click through to our website. It also helps us to make the Facebook ads we show you more relevant. Advertising
      Yahoo! The Yahoo! pixel is an analytics tool that allows us to measure the effectiveness of our Yahoo! advertising campaigns by understanding the actions people take once they click through to our website. It also helps us to make the Yahoo! ads we show you more relevant. Advertising
    2. If you have any questions about the partners and data processors we work with, please contact our Data Protection Officer at [email protected].
  2. In addition to the cookies set directly by our partners, there are also cookies set by third parties to help deliver and monitor their ads. Please note we neither control nor have access to those cookies, and these advertisers’ uses of cookies are subject to their own privacy policies and not that of The Motley Fool.
  3. If you follow these links from our site to theirs, you should be aware that these other sites have their own privacy and data processing practices. The Motley Fool has no responsibility or liability for these independent policies. For more information regarding a site and its privacy policies including its use of cookies, you should check that particular site.

10. Cookie Removal and More Information

  1. You can always modify your browser so as not to accept cookies or to notify you when cookies are sent to it. For more information about cookies, including removing any or all of your cookies, please visit https://www.allaboutcookies.org.
  2. Also, if you would like to remove the Google Analytics and DoubleClick cookies, please go to https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout and https://www.google.com/ads/preferences/plugin/, respectively. You should be aware that this will affect your Google cookies on all sites, and not just ours.

11. Information Sharing and Disclosure

  1. We do not give, rent, lend or sell individual information to any third party. Furthermore, we will not disclose any information about individual users, except as described below.
    1. Fool Community:  On our site, you may be publicly identified by your user or screen name. If you choose your full name as your username, you have voluntarily disclosed that information to The Motley Fool community. The same is true for any personal identifiable information (such as an email address) you include in any article comment.
    2. Current or Prospective Advertisers/Partners: We may share your data with adverstisers and business partners to deliver more relevant advertising and content. Please see Section 9 regarding our use of these types of partners.
    3. Our Parent Company: As previously mentioned, the information we collect from our users is processed and stored by our parent company in the United States. Also, since our parent handles the distribution of some of our emails for us, we provide our users’ email addresses to Fool US for the sole purpose of delivering these publications. Unless you’ve registered with Fool US or have otherwise provided them with your email address, they will not be contacting you or otherwise using your email address for any Fool US-related purposes.
    4. Third Party Service Providers: We may employ the services of third party providers to aid us in certain aspects of our operations (such as the distribution of our email products or conducting a survey for us). Depending on the services performed, some of these providers may be provided with user information. These contractors would be subject to confidentiality agreements which limit their use and disclosure of all information they obtain through their relationship with us to Fool-related business only, consistent with this policy.
    5. Legal Requests: We may disclose your personally identifiable information to protect the rights and property of The Motley Fool as well as to comply with any applicable law or valid legal process. This includes, but is not limited to:
      1. Requests by Government Agencies. We will disclose any information we have in our possession to law enforcement or government officials in response to any inquiry or investigation or if in our sole discretion, we believe it is necessary or appropriate in connection with any investigation or activity that is or may be illegal or may expose us or you to legal liability.
      2. Disclosures we are legally required or entitled to make under any enactment, rule of law or by the order of a court.

12. Security

We are committed to protecting your personal information. All information that you provide to us is stored on our secure servers. Access to paid-for areas of the site, such as our newsletter services is password-protected for your privacy and security. While we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. What does all this mean? Just as in the investing world, you must protect yourself. You are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your passwords and/or any account information. If you need to change your password, please follow the steps outlined below.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

Our site may, from time to time, contain links to external sites. We are not responsible for the privacy policies or the content of such sites.

13. Changing Your Information or Closing Your Account

  1. If you want to change your email address for delivery of your paid-for newsletter email subscriptions (e.g. Share Advisor, Pro or Hidden Winners), or you would like to change your password, you should go to https://www.fool.co.uk/account/.
  2. If you would rather not hear from us by email please click the unsubscribe link, which you will find at the bottom of our email messages. If you are paying for one of our newsletter services, please note that clicking on this link will not cancel your paid subscription.
  3. If you want to close your account – i.e., so that it cannot be logged into – or cancel a paid subscription please contact us at [email protected].

14. Users Aged 16 or Under

Protecting the safety of children when they use the internet is important to us.

The site is intended for use only by persons who are at least 16 years of age. By using this site, you confirm to us that you meet this requirement. If you are aged 16 or under, please get your parent/guardian’s permission beforehand whenever you provide personal information to our website. Users without this consent are not allowed to provide us with personal information.

15. Changes to this Privacy and Cookie Statement

We may amend this Privacy and Cookie Statement from time to time. If we make any substantive changes to this policy, we’ll announce it on our site and notify you by email.

16. Your rights

  1. You have the right under certain circumstances:
    • to be provided with a copy of your personal data held by us;
    • to request the rectification or erasure of your personal data held by us;
    • to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data (while we verify or investigate your concerns with this information, for example);
    • to object to the further processing of your personal data, including the right to object to marketing (as mentioned in ‘our promotional updates and communications’ section);
    • to request that your provided personal data be moved to a third party.
  2. Your right to withdraw consent: Where the processing of your personal information by us is based on consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent without detriment at any time by contacting us at [email protected]. You can also change your marketing preferences at any time as described in ‘our promotional updates and communications’ section.
  3. You can also exercise the rights listed above at any time by contacting the Data Protection Officer at [email protected].

If your request or concern is not satisfactorily resolved by us, you may approach your local data protection authority, (see https://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/bodies/authorities/index_en.html). The Information Commissioner is the supervisory authority in the UK and can provide further information about your rights and our obligations in relation to your personal data, as well as deal with any complaints that you have about our processing of your personal data.

Contact us

Questions, comments and requests regarding this privacy and cookie policy are welcomed and should be addressed to:

Data Protection Officer
The Motley Fool Limited
5 New Street Square
London EC4A 3TW

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 020 7462 4300

Last Updated: 29/01/2021