Social Media Privacy Notice
We know how important it is to you that we look after your Personal Information. To be trusted to do the right thing is one of our core values. This Social Media Privacy Notice is intended to explain what personal information we collect from users of social media.
What is social media?
Social media refers to a variety of online internet applications that enable you to create your own content and interact with other users. Examples of social media providers are Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.
What is Personal Information?
Personal Information is any information that can be used to identify (directly or indirectly) a living individual (eg. name, address, date of birth, photograph, isp address).
When do we collect your Personal Information?
You may provide personal information to us in the following ways:
- By ‘liking’ our social media page;
- By ‘following’ our social media page;
- By sharing Personal Information when you post comments on our social media page;
- By contacting us through our social media page; and/or
- By emailing us at one of our email addresses listed on our social media page.
What Personal Information do we collect?
This depends on how you provide your Personal Information (eg. by commenting on our social media page or direct messaging/emailing us). We may collect your:
- Name;
- Email address;
- Mailing address;
- Profile photo;
- Username or login IDs for Facebook/Twitter/Instagram;
- Company, job title, industry, gender;
- IP address;
- Geographic location.
How is my personal information used?
Your Personal Information is used in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the terms and conditions of the social media provider (which are available on their websites).
We may use your Personal Information in the following ways:
- To deal with an issue that you have raised or to report to our members of staff that you are happy/unhappy with our services;
- Your email address to respond to your message;
- To monitor social media site trends; and/or
- To identify customer sentiment.
For further information on how we use your Personal Information please see our Privacy Notice.
Who else has access to my Personal Information?
We may use third parties to manage our social media interactions. Where this happens we will ensure that we have robust Data Protection contractual clauses in place and other appropriate safeguards to protect your Personal Information.
Where do you store my Personal Information?
We take your privacy very seriously and have taken measures to make sure that your personal information is stored safely and securely on our internal servers.
How long will you keep my Personal Information?
We only keep your Personal Information for as long as is necessary.
Choices you have regarding your Personal Information
If you have a social media account, many of the choices you have regarding your Personal Information will be built directly into your account privacy settings. For example, you may be able to:
- Decide who can see your profile;
- Decide whether your profile is available to search engines;
- Choose whether other users can find your account using your email address; and/or
- Block other users/accounts.
The privacy settings on social media websites and applications should give you control over how your personal information is used. The Information Commissioner’s Office (‘ICO’) recommends that those who use social media check their privacy settings before using a particular service and to review them regularly, particularly after any new settings are introduced.
Where you amend your privacy settings to restrict access to Welsh Water, if you then mention Welsh Water in a comment or tag Welsh Water in a comment, we may still have access to that comment and the Personal Information that goes with it.
The ICO has issued some helpful guidance on social media privacy settings. This can be accessed here: https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/online/social-media-privacy-settings/
If you have any queries about how to adjust your privacy settings or exercise your advertising preferences, you should contact the provider of the social media platform you are using.
Security
The security of your Personal Information is important to us, but no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
Jurisdiction
This Privacy Notice shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales, as applied in Wales. Disputes arising in connection with this Privacy Notice shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
Updating our Privacy Notice
We will keep our Privacy Notice updated as our business processes and procedures, and/or the Data Protection laws, change. Our most up to date version will always be on our website. Any questions If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice please contact Welsh Water’s Data Protection Officer at: