Privacy Policy

Last updated: 22 August 2026

This Policy explains how Media Visnyk processes personal data when you use the website, contact the editorial team or interact with our technical systems.

1. Scope and principles

This Policy covers personal data relating to website visitors, people who contact us and users of the restricted editorial panel. Personal data processed for journalistic publication may also be governed by specific rules protecting freedom of expression, information and journalism.

We follow the principles of lawfulness, fairness, transparency, data minimisation, purpose and storage limitation, and security. The Law of Ukraine on Personal Data Protection applies, together with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) where a processing activity falls within its territorial scope.

2. Who is responsible for your data

The owner of the publication is the data controller and decides why and how personal data are processed.

Owner and responsible editor: Ivanov Oleksii Sergiovich
Editorial address: 26 Himnazijna Embankment, Kharkiv, Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, 61000
Data protection requests: form on the Contacts page

3. Personal data we receive

Depending on how you interact with us, we may receive the following categories of data:

contact-form data: subject, name, email address, message and selected language;
information you voluntarily include in a message, which may concern other people; please do not send unnecessary or sensitive data;
technical logs: IP address, date and time of a request, requested page, response status, browser or device type, user-agent and referring page;
account and administrative-session data only for authorised members of the editorial team.

4. Purposes and legal bases

to receive, verify and handle a message, reply to its author and manage complaints, corrections and rights of reply, based on our legitimate interests in operating an accountable newsroom and protecting the rights of the parties involved;
to discuss cooperation or take steps before entering into an arrangement when processing is necessary at your request;
to comply with a legal obligation or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims;
to operate and secure the website, prevent spam, attacks and unauthorised access, and diagnose faults, based on our legitimate interest in service security;
on the basis of consent only for a separate optional feature where consent is expressly requested. You may withdraw that consent at any time.

5. Cookies, analytics and advertising

The public website currently does not use analytics or advertising cookies, advertising pixels or cross-site tracking technologies. We do not create advertising profiles of readers.

Strictly necessary cookies may be used in the restricted administrative panel to authenticate and secure editorial accounts. They are not intended to track ordinary readers.

Before enabling optional analytics or advertising, we will update this Policy and, where required by law, provide an appropriate consent control.

6. Who may receive the data

Access is limited to authorised members of the editorial team who need it to handle messages, administer the service or maintain security.

Hosting, infrastructure and technical-support providers may have limited access where necessary to operate the website. We do not sell or rent personal data and do not disclose it for another party’s direct marketing.

Data may be disclosed to a competent authority or another person where required by law, a court order, or the need to protect rights and safety.

7. Processing locations and international transfers

Editorial operations are managed from Ukraine and the current server infrastructure is located in the Netherlands. Data may therefore be processed in Ukraine and the Netherlands. Where GDPR international-transfer rules apply to a particular transfer, we use the conditions and safeguards required by applicable law.

8. How long we keep data

Messages are kept while they are being handled and, after closure, only for as long as reasonably necessary for follow-up, complaint handling, evidence of editorial action or legal claims. Closed routine messages are reviewed at least annually and deleted when they are no longer needed.

Technical logs are retained for the shortest period necessary for security and diagnostics. They may be kept longer where required to investigate an incident or comply with law.

Editorial accounts are kept while access remains authorised, and necessary security records are retained only while justified by system security or legal claims.

9. How we protect data

We use access controls, authentication for editorial users, request-rate limits, backups and other proportionate technical and organisational safeguards. No method of transmission or storage can guarantee absolute security.

10. Your rights

Depending on the law that applies, you may have the right to:

ask whether we process your data and obtain access to it;
have inaccurate or incomplete data corrected;
request erasure or restriction where the legal conditions are met;
object to processing based on legitimate interests;
receive data you provided in a portable format where the right to portability applies;
withdraw consent without affecting the lawfulness of earlier processing;
complain to the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights or to a competent data protection authority in the EEA where it has jurisdiction.

To protect personal data, we may request enough information to verify identity. Rights are not absolute: some data may need to be retained to comply with law, protect freedom of expression and information, or establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

11. Automated decision-making

We do not use visitors’ personal data for decisions based solely on automated processing that produce legal or similarly significant effects, and we do not profile visitors for advertising.

12. Third-party sites and social media

Depending on the language edition, the website links to Facebook, Telegram, WhatsApp and Instagram. Following a link means interacting with a separate service that processes data under its own policy. We do not control cookies or subsequent processing on those platforms.

13. Children’s data

The website is not designed to knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe that a child has sent us data without appropriate involvement of a parent or legal guardian, contact the editorial team so that we can review and, where appropriate, delete it.

14. Changes and how to contact us

We may update this Policy when website features, processing activities or legal requirements change. The latest revision date will always appear on this page. You can submit a privacy request through the Contacts page; we will respond without undue delay and within the period required by applicable law. form on the Contacts page.