Effective Date: November 5, 2019

This Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) explains the privacy practices of Niantic, Inc. and its affiliates (“Niantic”) as they relate to your application for and use of Niantic’s self-serve program for location-based in-game marketing and all services provided by us in connection with that program (collectively, the “Sponsored Locations Services”). It will help you understand what information is collected, used, and disclosed by Niantic, and the rights and options available to you.

You should also review the Sponsored Locations Terms and Conditions (the "Sponsored Locations Terms”) and the Sponsored Locations Policy & Guidelines (the “Sponsored Locations Policy”) (collectively, the “Terms”), which are fully incorporated herein by reference. 

1. Who decides how your information is used

Niantic, Inc. is the data controller responsible for making decisions about how we use your personal information if you are based outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). If you are based in the EEA, your data controller is Niantic International Limited in the United Kingdom.

2. The information we collect about you and how we use it

This Privacy Policy covers our use of any information that can or could be used to identify you ("Personal Data") in connection with the Sponsored Locations Services. It does not cover information which cannot be used to identify you ("Anonymous Data").

We need to collect and use certain Personal Data to provide the Sponsored Locations Services to you and fulfil the promises we make to you in the Terms:

  • When you sign up or apply for the Sponsored Locations Services (your “Sponsor Account”), you give us Personal Data voluntarily by providing it to us. We collect and use that information in order to authenticate you when you register for a Sponsor Account and use the Sponsored Locations Services, to make sure you are eligible and able to receive the Sponsored Locations Services, and so that you receive the correct version of the Sponsored Locations Services. This includes: information about you (your name, email address, and phone number) and your business (business name, business address, physical location, phone number, a copy of your local business license, and other information relevant to verifying your business).

  • You may also have the option of using a supported external single sign-on service to sign up for a Sponsor Account. As such, the Personal Data we collect also depends on which external accounts you choose to use, their privacy policy, and what your privacy settings with those services allow us to see when you use their services to access the Sponsored Locations Services.
    • If you choose to link your Google account to the Sponsored Locations Services, we will collect your Google email address and an authentication token provided by Google.
    • If you choose to link your Facebook account to the Sponsored Locations Services, we will collect a unique user ID provided by Facebook and your Facebook registered email address.

    Some external providers may notify you that they make additional information, such as your public profile, available to us when you use their single sign-on services. We do not collect that information from them.

  • You also give us your Personal Data when you pay for the Sponsored Locations Services, subscribe to our publications, enter a promotion or survey, or communicate with us. In order to pay for the Sponsored Locations Services, you will be required to supply payment information, including your credit card number, the expiration date of your credit card, your email and postal addresses for billing and notification, and additional information to verify your identity (collectively, “Payment Information”). To protect your privacy, your Payment Information will not be stored on Niantic's systems but rather by a third party payment processor that assists Niantic in the authentication, authorization, charge and maintenance of your Payment Information for the Sponsored Locations Services you purchase from Niantic in accordance with their own privacy policy. Such payment processor is subject to applicable standards and regulations with respect to the holding of Personal Data and the processing of online payments. 

In addition, we have and rely on a legitimate interest in using your Personal Data as follows:

  • Using your IP address, browser type, operating system, the web page you were visiting before accessing our Sponsored Locations Services, the pages of our Sponsored Locations Services which you browsed or the features you used, and the time spent on those pages or features, the links on our Sponsored Locations Services that you click on, and device and advertising identifiers, to understand who is using our Sponsored Locations Services and how.
  • Using your contact information, namely your email address, in order to communicate with you to provide technical and customer support;
  • To request feedback and to otherwise contact you about your Sponsor Account or your use of the Sponsored Locations Services;
  • To personalize and improve the Sponsored Locations Services and users’ experiences, and to increase the functionality and user friendliness of the Sponsored Locations Services;
  • To notify you about important changes to the Sponsored Locations Services;
  • To offer new or additional features for our Sponsored Locations Services;
  • To carry out anti-fraud measures and to ensure that you and other users are complying with our Terms; and 
  • To make legal or regulatory disclosures, and to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

We rely on your consent where we use cookies or similar technologies. Please see our Cookie Policy for more information about how we use them. Insofar as cookies collect Personal Data, we will process it only based on your explicit consent, in anonymized form, or under a pseudonym.

While you may disable the usage of cookies through your browser settings, Niantic currently does not respond to a "Do Not Track" signal in the HTTP header from your browser or mobile application due to the lack of industry standard on how to interpret that signal.

3. Who we share information with

We will not share any Personal Data that we have collected from or regarding you except as described below:

  • Information Shared with Our Services Providers. We engage external service providers to work with us to administer and provide the Sponsored Locations Services. As part of that they will process your Personal Data on our behalf. These external service providers have access to your Personal Data only for the purpose of performing services on our behalf, in compliance with this Privacy Policy, and we make sure each one is contractually obliged not to disclose or use your Personal Data for any other purpose. The service providers we use help us to:
    • run, operate and maintain the Sponsored Locations Services;
    • perform analytics, including content moderation and crash analytics; 
    • provide technical and customer support; and
    • process payments for the Sponsored Locations Services or other purchases. 

  • Information Disclosed for Our Protection and the Protection of Others. We cooperate with government and law enforcement officials or private parties to enforce and comply with the law. We only share information about you to government or law enforcement officials or private parties when we reasonably believe necessary or appropriate: (a) to respond to claims, legal process (including subpoenas and warrants); (b) to protect our property, rights, and safety and the property, rights, and safety of a third party or the public in general; and (c) to investigate and stop any activity that we consider illegal, unethical, or legally actionable.

  • Information Disclosed in Connection with Business Transactions. We may share Personal Data and other data with businesses controlling, controlled by, or under common control with Niantic. If we are acquired by a third party as a result of a transaction such as a merger, acquisition, or asset sale or if our assets are acquired by a third party in the event we go out of business or enter bankruptcy, some or all of our assets, including your Personal Data, will be disclosed or transferred to a third party acquirer in connection with the transaction.

4. How your Personal Data is transferred

Niantic operates its Sponsored Locations Services across the globe. Your Personal Data will very likely be transferred and stored in a country outside of your home country, including in the USA, for the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy. The data protection laws in these countries may not be the same as in your home country.If we transfer your Personal Data from the EEA to other countries, including the USA, we ensure that a similar degree of protection is provided to your Personal Data as within the EEA by ensuring that at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

  • The country that your Personal Data is transferred to is a country that the European Commission has deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for Personal Data as the EEA.
  • We use specific contracts approved by the European Commission which give Personal Data the same protection as it has in Europe when we engage with service providers.
  • Where we engage with service providers in the USA, they are part of the EU-US Privacy Shield, which requires them to provide the same protection of your Personal Data as it has in the EEA.

5. How long we keep your Personal Data

We keep your Personal Data for as long as we need to provide the Sponsored Locations Services to you and fulfil the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. This is also the case for anyone that we share your information with and who carry out services on our behalf. When we no longer need to use your Personal Data and there is no need for us to keep it to comply with our legal or regulatory obligations, we will either remove it from our systems or anonymize it so that it can no longer be associated with you.

6. How we keep your Personal Data safe

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent your Personal Data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorized way, improperly altered or disclosed. We also limit access to your Personal Data to employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your Personal Data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected Personal Data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

7. Your rights and choices

You have certain rights in relation to your Personal Data. In order to exercise these rights, please contact us at: sponsor-privacy@nianticlabs.com.

You can:
  • Request access to the Personal Data we hold on you.
  • Delete or correct your Personal Data. 
  • Object to us processing your Personal Data or ask us to stop using your Personal Data. Some of the Personal Data we hold is necessary for us to provide the Sponsored Locations Services to you and fulfill the promises we make to you in the Terms.
  • Complain to a regulator. We'd appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns directly so we'd prefer you to contact us first. However, if you're based in the EEA and believe that we have not complied with data protection laws, you can complain to our regulator, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office, or with your local supervisory authority.

The law provides exceptions to these rights in certain circumstances. Where you cannot exercise one of these rights due to such an exception, we will explain to you why.

We offer you choices regarding the collection, use, and sharing of your Personal Data and we’ll respect the choices you make. Please note that if you decide not to provide us with the Personal Data that we request, you may not be able to access all of the features of the Sponsored Locations Services.

We aim to provide the information or complete the outcome you request within 30 days.

8. Children

Our Sponsored Locations Services are not intended for—and we don’t direct them to—children under the age of 18. Accordingly, we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18 in connection with the Sponsored Locations Services.  If we learn that we have collected Personal Data of anyone under 18 in connection with the Sponsored Locations Services, we will take steps to delete such information from our files as soon as possible.

9. Changes to this Privacy Policy

Any Personal Data that we collect is covered by the Privacy Policy in effect at the time such information is collected. We may make changes to this Privacy Policy from time to time. You will be given reasonable notice of any material change.