Privacy Policy
Effective Date: July 28, 2026 — This Policy complies with applicable data protection principles.
Mena Editors Network ("the Organisation", "we", "us", or "our") is committed to protecting and respecting the privacy and personal data of all individuals who interact with our Platform and Services. This Privacy Policy ("Policy") describes, in accordance with applicable data protection legislation, how we collect, process, store, disclose, and safeguard your personal information. By using the Platform, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Policy.
Article 1 — Identity of the Data Controller
The data controller responsible for your personal information is:
- Mena Editors Network
- Akevler Mh. 1069. Sok. Future Park Ofis.162, Esenyurt, İstanbul, 34513, Türkiye
- Email: [email protected]
Article 2 — Categories of Personal Data Collected
We collect and process the following categories of personal data:
- Identity Data: full legal name, nationality, date of birth, gender, professional title, employer/affiliation.
- Contact Data: email address, mobile phone number, WhatsApp number, country of residence.
- Professional Data: work experience, specialisation, CV documents, and supporting credentials submitted as part of the membership application.
- Financial Data: invoice records, payment amounts, transaction references, and payment status. Card numbers and account credentials are processed exclusively by our payment processors (Stripe, PayPal) and are never transmitted to or stored by the Organisation.
- Authentication & Security Data: login timestamps, IP addresses, device identifiers, and audit trail entries generated by your interaction with the Platform.
- Media Data: profile photographs and any images uploaded voluntarily as part of your application or profile.
Article 3 — Legal Basis for Processing
We process your personal data on the following legal grounds:
- Contractual necessity: processing required to perform our obligations under your membership agreement or service enrollment.
- Legitimate interests: security monitoring, fraud prevention, platform improvement, and communication of service-related updates.
- Legal obligation: compliance with applicable financial, tax, and regulatory requirements.
- Consent: where you have provided explicit consent for a specific processing activity, such as receiving non-essential communications.
Article 4 — Purposes of Processing
Your personal data is processed exclusively for the following purposes:
- Evaluating and processing membership applications and renewals.
- Issuing membership certificates, course completion certificates, and conference attendance records.
- Processing and recording payment transactions and issuing receipts.
- Communicating service notifications, membership updates, and administrative communications.
- Maintaining platform security, detecting and preventing fraudulent or unauthorised activity.
- Complying with applicable legal and regulatory obligations.
- Improving the functionality and user experience of the Platform.
Article 5 — Data Sharing & Third-Party Disclosure
5.1 We do not sell, rent, lease, or commercially exploit your personal data to any third party.
5.2 Your data may be shared with the following categories of recipients, strictly on a need-to-know basis and subject to appropriate confidentiality obligations:
- Payment Processors: Stripe Inc. and PayPal Holdings, Inc., for the purpose of processing payment transactions. Each processor operates under its own privacy policy and data processing terms.
- Email Service Providers: for the delivery of transactional and administrative email communications.
- IT Infrastructure Providers: hosting and cloud service providers who process data on our behalf under binding data processing agreements.
- Competent Authorities: where we are legally required or compelled by court order to disclose personal data.
Article 6 — International Data Transfers
Where personal data is transferred to third-party service providers located outside your country of residence, we ensure that such transfers are subject to appropriate safeguards, including standard contractual clauses or equivalent mechanisms recognised under applicable law.
Article 7 — Data Retention
7.1 We retain your personal data for as long as your membership account is active and, thereafter, for a minimum period of five (5) years to satisfy legal, accounting, and regulatory obligations.
7.2 Security logs and audit trails are retained for a period of twelve (12) months.
7.3 Upon expiry of the applicable retention period, personal data will be securely deleted or anonymised in a manner that prevents re-identification.
Article 8 — Your Rights as a Data Subject
Subject to applicable law, you have the following rights with respect to your personal data:
- Right of Access: the right to obtain a copy of your personal data held by us.
- Right to Rectification: the right to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
- Right to Erasure: the right to request deletion of your data, subject to our legal retention obligations.
- Right to Restriction: the right to request that we restrict processing of your data in certain circumstances.
- Right to Data Portability: the right to receive your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.
- Right to Object: the right to object to processing based on legitimate interests.
- Right to Withdraw Consent: where processing is based on consent, the right to withdraw such consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.
To exercise any of the above rights, please submit a written request to the contact details in Article 1.
Article 9 — Information Security
We implement and maintain appropriate technical and organisational security measures designed to protect your personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure, or access. These measures include, without limitation: HTTPS/TLS encryption for all data in transit, hashed password storage, role-based access controls, and regular security audits. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure, and we cannot warrant the absolute security of information transmitted to or from the Platform.
Article 10 — Cookies
The Platform uses only strictly necessary session cookies required for authentication and platform functionality. We do not deploy tracking, profiling, behavioural, or advertising cookies. No consent banner is required as no non-essential cookies are used.
Article 11 — Changes to This Policy
We reserve the right to update or modify this Policy at any time. The revised Policy will be published on this page with an updated effective date. Your continued use of the Platform following publication of changes constitutes your acceptance of the revised Policy.
Article 12 — Contact & Complaints
For any privacy-related enquiries, requests, or complaints, please contact us at the details set out in Article 1. If you are unsatisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent data protection authority in your country of residence.