World Virtual Vote

1. Scope

This policy applies to worldvirtualvote.com and pages that link to it. World Virtual Vote is an independent informational website and public-opinion project. Registered participation is optional; most editorial pages can be read without an account.

2. Information we collect

Information you choose to send. If you contact us, we receive your email address, message, and any other information you include. Please do not send sensitive personal information.

Account information. When you sign in, we receive the verified email address and, when available, display name supplied by the sign-in service. You may provide your G20 country, followed campaigns, and email frequency. We use this information to operate your private dashboard and preferences.

Technical and usage information. Our hosting, security, and analytics providers may process IP address, browser and device type, approximate region, referring page, pages viewed, timestamps, and security events. This information helps deliver the site, prevent abuse, understand aggregate use, and diagnose failures.

Virtual choices. A signed-in participant can record one virtual choice per election round. We store the election, round, candidate, self-selected participating country, and time of the choice so the participant can view a private history and so we can publish aggregate virtual results. Country-level and overall results appear only after a minimum participation threshold is met. Individual voting histories are not published. Political-opinion data is sensitive, and access is restricted to the signed-in participant and limited authorized operations.

3. How we use information

We use information to operate and secure the website; authenticate participants; enforce one virtual vote per person per round; show private voting history; produce non-identifying aggregate results; remember followed campaigns; deliver newsletters a participant specifically requests; respond to messages; improve the service; detect abuse; comply with law; and establish or defend legal claims. We do not use contact emails to subscribe people to marketing without a separate choice.

4. News recommendations and automated assistance

Automated tools may collect articles from an approved source list, remove duplicates, classify stories by election or topic, estimate relevance, and draft neutral summaries. These tools can make mistakes. Recommended articles remain in a private editorial queue until an administrator reviews the original source and approves or rejects them.

By default, recommendations for a participant use campaigns the participant explicitly follows—not the candidate they selected. Using virtual-vote choices for personalization is off by default and requires a separate choice in account settings. Turning that option off does not affect the ability to vote or follow campaigns.

Automated translation. Visitors may request an automated translation into a supported G20 language. Page text is sent to our translation service and translated versions may be cached to improve speed and consistency. Automated translations can contain errors, especially in political, legal, and election terminology. The English page remains the editorial original, and candidate names, dates, quotations, and official election details should be checked against linked primary sources.

5. Advertising, Google AdSense, and cookies

No advertising code is active on the site at the effective date above. If Google AdSense or another advertising service is activated, that provider may use cookies, web beacons, device information, and similar technologies to serve, measure, and personalize advertisements where permitted. Google and its partners may use advertising cookies based on visits to this and other websites.

Before personalized advertising is enabled in regions that require consent, the site should deploy an appropriate consent-management platform and honor applicable choices. Visitors may learn about Google’s data practices at Google’s “How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services” page and manage ad personalization through Google’s advertising settings. Browser controls can also block or delete cookies, though some features may work differently.

This policy and the site’s consent controls must be reviewed again before actual advertising code is installed.

Information may be processed by service providers that support hosting, security, analytics, email, accessibility, and advertising. They may use information only under their agreements and applicable law. We may also disclose information when reasonably necessary to comply with law, protect rights or safety, investigate abuse, or complete a business reorganization. We do not sell contact-list information.

7. Retention

We keep information only as long as reasonably needed for the purposes above. Account preferences and private vote history are retained while an account is active, unless a longer or shorter period is required by law or chosen in a future retention control. Routine server and security logs follow provider settings. Contact correspondence is generally kept while a request is active and for a reasonable record-keeping period. Published aggregate results may remain archived, but direct identifiers are not published with them.

8. Your choices and rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, object to, or receive a copy of certain personal information, and to withdraw consent where processing relies on consent. You may email citylinks4u@gmail.com. We may need to verify a request and may retain limited records where law permits or requires.

You can limit cookies through browser settings and, when available, the site’s consent control. Global Privacy Control and similar signals should be honored where legally required and technically applicable.

9. Children

The general editorial site is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 through the current site. Any future youth participation project must use age-appropriate notices, data minimization, safeguarding review, and parental consent where required. Contact us if you believe a child has provided personal information improperly.

10. Security and international processing

We use reasonable administrative and technical safeguards, but no internet transmission or storage system is completely secure. Service providers may process information in countries other than your own, where privacy laws may differ. Appropriate contractual or legal safeguards should be used when required.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the site changes. The effective date at the top will be revised, and material changes should receive a prominent notice. Archived versions should be retained for accountability.

12. Contact

For privacy questions, requests, or general enquiries, email citylinks4u@gmail.com.

Your opinion should not cost you control of your information.