Privacy Policy

This policy explains what personal data GET ESSENCE LTD ("Essence", "we", "us") collects when you use our platform, why we collect it, where it is stored, who it is shared with, and what rights you have.

What data we collect

Account data

When you create an account, we collect your email address and, if you choose to provide it, your name. Your password is stored in hashed form — we cannot read it.

Payment data

Payments are processed by Stripe (stripe.com). Your card number, expiry date, and security code are entered directly on Stripe's servers and never reach ours. We store a Stripe customer identifier and subscription status to manage your account.

Usage data

When you use the platform, we record which features you use, when, and how long requests take. This includes the type of query you run (verification, situation, briefing, disinfo) and system performance data. This data is linked to your account and used for service improvement and quota management.

Query data

The claims, questions, and topics you submit to the platform are stored alongside the outputs they generate. This data is necessary to deliver the service (producing and retrieving your analyses) and is linked to your account.

Preference data

Your language setting, preferred regions, and preferred topics are stored to personalise the platform experience.

Technical data

We use localStorage in your browser to store authentication tokens and language preferences. We do not use cookies for tracking. We do not use third-party analytics services. We do not serve advertising.

Why we process your data

AI processing

When you submit a query, the text of your input is sent to one or more external AI providers for processing. These providers generate the analytical text that forms part of your output. The providers currently used are:

• Google (Gemini) — Primary provider for claim assessment and briefing generation. Data may be processed in the United States.
• OpenAI (GPT-4o) — Fallback provider and event enrichment. Data may be processed in the United States.
• Anthropic (Claude) — Fallback provider for deep analysis. Data may be processed in the United States.

Your queries are sent as processing instructions — the providers do not store your data for their own training purposes under our contractual agreements. The source evaluation, verdict determination, and confidence scoring are performed by our own deterministic framework, not by the AI providers.

All outputs are clearly identified as AI-assisted. In accordance with Article 50 of the EU AI Act (effective 2 August 2026), AI-generated content is labelled as such.

Where your data is stored

Your primary data (account, queries, outputs, analytics) is stored in the European Union (Frankfurt). Where data is transferred to the United States for processing, this occurs under Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) or equivalent safeguards as required by UK GDPR.

How long we keep your data

Aggregated and anonymised data

We may use anonymised, aggregated usage data — such as which topics are generating the most queries across the platform — for public-interest research, including sharing with investigative journalism organisations. This data does not identify individual users, does not contain individual queries, and cannot be traced back to any account.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

1. Access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
2. Rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate data.
3. Erasure — ask us to delete your data (subject to legal retention requirements).
4. Portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
5. Object — object to processing based on legitimate interest.
6. Restrict — ask us to limit how we use your data while a complaint is resolved.

To exercise any of these rights, write to privacy@get-essence.com. We will respond within 30 days.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk, or with the data protection authority in your country of residence.

Children

Essence is not directed at individuals under 18. We do not knowingly collect data from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated by email to active subscribers. The "last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision.

Contact

Postal correspondence: GET ESSENCE LTD, 71–75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ, United Kingdom.