General terms and conditions

General terms and conditions of Follow the Money B.V., established at Overtoom 197, 1054 HT in Amsterdam and registered with the Chamber of Commerce under number 34364783.

The general terms and conditions will apply to all services offered by Follow the Money and to all agreements concluded between Follow the Money and the user. Follow the Money reserves the right to amend these general terms and conditions at all times. By using the digital services of Follow the Money, you automatically accept and agree with the general terms and conditions.

Service

Follow the Money offers high-quality investigative journalism (including articles, columns and interviews) via its website (www.ftm.eu – the ‘website’) and other digital and non-digital channels (the ‘service’). The service is available to anyone who subscribes to Follow the Money (hereinafter the ‘membership’) and those with a membership (hereinafter: a ‘member’ or the ‘members’). As a member, you have unlimited access to the service. Non-members can only view a limited part of the content.

Account

Your account allows you to log in on Follow the Money and on our app. You manage your account through your profile page. Here, you can see which newsletters you receive, which authors and dossiers you follow, and which comments you have posted to articles. Your account will continue to exist when you cancel your paid membership. You can also change the membership settings in your account. As a paying member, you can read all our publications. As a non-paying member, you have limited access to our publications, but you can receive our newsletters.

Newsletters

If you subscribe to our newsletter, you will receive our most important publications every Saturday at the email address that you provided. We may also send you an extra newsletter when we have an important article that we feel cannot be delayed.

By subscribing to our newsletter, you will also receive a small number of emails with tips on how to get the most out of Follow the Money; we will send you these tips for as long as you are registered. If you receive our newsletter but are not a paying member, we will occasionally ask you to become one. Receiving the newsletter is not linked to an active paid membership. You can always unsubscribe from the newsletter by changing your preferences on your profile page on our website.

Newsletters from authors and dossiers you are following

When you indicate that you want to follow an author or a dossier, you will receive emails about the author’s latest publications or the latest additions to the dossiers. We can also alert you to related articles or dossiers. You will only receive these emails if you have indicated that you want to follow an author or a dossier. You can always unsubscribe from such a newsletter by changing your preferences on your profile page on our website.

Membership

You can apply for a membership via the website and get full access to the Service. You are responsible for managing your login details. Please inform us immediately if you lose your login details or suspect that your account has been compromised. Follow the Money has the right to refuse a membership request.

Access code

After applying for a membership, you can log in with your self-chosen password. From that moment on, you can make full use of the Service. A membership is intended for personal and non-commercial use. Therefore, you are not permitted to provide your password to third parties. Follow the Money has the right to cancel a password after it has been sent.

Membership fee and payment

When you request a membership, you will automatically receive a confirmation by email (please check your spam box). Follow the Money is entitled to amend the membership fee but will inform members of any increase and offer them the possibility to terminate their membership. Payment must be made via the online payment service. When applying for a membership, you will be given a choice to pay monthly, per year or per two years.

If you pay monthly, the amount will be debited monthly at the current rate. If you pay per year, the membership fee will be debited annually at the current rate. If you pay every two years, the membership fee is debited every two years at the current rate. You authorise Follow the Money to debit the membership fee; the user can cancel the debit whenever they wish. If the payment term is exceeded, Follow the Money has the right to suspend or dissolve the Membership and block access to the Service.

Duration and cancellation

Membership is entered into for an indefinite period.

• If you pay per month, you can cancel your Membership at any time by clicking on ‘cancel subscription’ in your profile. The membership will be terminated on the last day of the current monthly period. Should this not work, please send an email to lid@ftm.nl. A monthly period runs from the day you become a member until the same day the following month.
• If you pay per year, we will extend your subscription annually for an equal period. You can cancel your subscription at any time during your subscription period by clicking on ‘cancel subscription’ in your profile or by sending an email to lid@ftm.nl.
• If you pay per two years, we will renew your subscription for the same period every second year. You can cancel your subscription at any time during your subscription period by clicking on ‘cancel subscription’ in your profile or by sending an email to lid@ftm.nl. Your subscription will then automatically end on the expiry date of the current subscription.

Follow the Money has the right to block or cancel your membership if we suspect that you are not complying with this user agreement.

Liability

Follow the Money is not liable for any damages you may incur as a result of using the service, unless such damage is caused by wilful intent, gross negligence or wilful recklessness on the part of Follow the Money. You acknowledge that Follow the Money is an authorial medium that (therefore) contains subjective information. Even though Follow the Money endeavours to provide high-quality, accurate information, we do not guarantee that information via the service is correct. Follow the Money is not liable for the consequences of such (possible) inaccuracies.

Privacy

Follow the Money attaches great importance to privacy. We treat personal data in a confidential manner and in accordance with the European General Data Protection Regulation (in the Netherlands: the AVG). Follow the Money only processes the personal data you provided to facilitate the use of a membership and to communicate with you in this context.

Follow the Money will not use your personal data for commercial purposes and will not make them available to third parties unless (a) you have agreed to this, (b) this is necessary for the above-mentioned purpose, or (c) Follow the Money is obliged to do so by law or jurisprudence.

Licence

When you share content via the service (for example: in the contributions under an article), you give Follow the Money a perpetual, unconditional licence to (further) publish this content, or a part thereof, in any way whatsoever, to duplicate it, to store it or to use it in any other way for journalistic purposes.

Intellectual property rights

All content and layouts (such as texts, photos, visual material and other creations) of the service are subject to intellectual and industrial property rights. Making (parts of) the service public, reproducing, scanning or exploiting it in any other way is prohibited without Follow the Money’s prior written permission. Would you like to copy or purchase an article? Please contact us via info@ftm.nl.

Use

As a condition for using the service, you agree not to submit to Follow the Money any information, data or content that:

a) promotes racism, violence or hatred;

b) is false or misleading;

c) infringes on intellectual property rights;

d) violates privacy rights;

e) violates any law or regulation.

Additionally, you agree that you will:

f) not impersonate or falsely claim kinship with any person or entity;

g) not enter any non-public or secure areas of the Service;

h) do not send viruses, worms, junk mail, spam, chain letters, unsolicited offers or advertisements of any kind or for any purpose;

i) not investigate, scan or test the vulnerability of the service or any other related system or network, or violate any security or authentication.

Follow the Money reserves the right to remove your contributions or deny you the possibility to post comments if we find that your contributions/comments do not meet the above directives, or if you obstruct the journalistic process in any way.

Information disclosure

Follow the Money always has the to disclose information (i) to defend itself in court cases, (ii) to comply with a court order, (iii) to comply with all governmental laws, regulations or requests, (iv) to protect national security, the military, public safety and public health and (v) to enforce the user agreement.

Complaints procedure

We do our utmost to satisfy our members. If you have a complaint, do tell us. Please send your complaint, as detailed as possible, to info@ftm.nl with the subject ‘Complaint’. Your complaint will be dealt with as quickly as possible and, in any event, within 14 days of receipt.

Disputes

This user agreement is exclusively governed by Dutch law. Disputes will be submitted to the competent court in Amsterdam.

User protocol

These terms and conditions apply to the use of Follow the Money’s website and posting content, such as contributions/comments to articles, podcasts and videos published on the site.

User account

a) Before you can comment, you must create an account and provide your first and last name and a valid email address.

b) Afterwards, you can enter an alias in your profile. This alias will be used for your comments.

c) Follow the Money’s website administrator reserves the right to block a user account temporarily or permanently if, in the opinion of Follow the Money, a user acts in breach of our terms and conditions or Follow the Money has another legitimate reason to do so.

Commenting

We want our site to be a pleasant environment for all of our readers, and we want discussions on our site to be respectful. Therefore, we ask you to observe the following simple rules and advice.

1. Be polite.
2. Name yourself.
3. Try to add something new to the discussion.
4. Respond ‘on topic’.
5. Substantiate your opinion with relevant arguments.
6. Write your comment in proper English, so that other readers can understand it.
7. Do not insult others: readers who post comments, authors or people who appear in articles.
8. Do not discriminate, do not incite hatred or violence.
9. Do not engage in digital shouting (excessive use of capitals, question marks or exclamation marks).
10. Do not use foul language.
11. Commenting on contributions from others is perfectly fine and is part of a healthy discussion, but please provide substantive and reasoned comments. And always remain respectful, even in the middle of an argument.
12. If you place a link in your reaction, explain why the link is relevant or what it adds to the discussion.

Follow the Money’s website administrator reserves the right to delete or refuse comments without further explanation or remove comments after they have been posted.

Follow the Money disclaims all liability for (the consequences of) comments posted by readers. The website user is liable and indemnifies Follow the Money B.V. and its affiliated companies against any claims by third parties and for related damages and costs incurred in relation to the comments posted by readers.

Privacy policy

Follow the Money respects your privacy. Below, you can read how Follow the Money processes your personal data when using our service (the ‘Service’).

Personal data

Follow the Money handles your personal data with care. When applying for a membership, you must provide your name and email address. Follow the Money only uses your email address to inform you about the Service, to make the service accessible, and for sending our newsletter (if you so desire). We also collect information about your computer or tablet, such as your IP address and browser type. This data is for internal use only, to improve our service.

Data protection

Follow the Money takes several appropriate measures to protect your personal data against loss or any form of unlawful use. Passwords are stored encrypted, in a secure environment.

Data policy

Please see our data policy [next section] for more information on how we handle our data.

Your data and third parties

Follow the Money does not provide your personal data to third parties. Follow the Money employees and contractors are obliged to respect the confidentiality of your personal data.

E-mail traffic 

The information in email messages and relevant attachments sent by Follow the Money is solely intended for the addressee and may contain confidential information. The right to publication, copying, distribution and/or provision of this information to third parties is reserved for the addressee. Follow the Money does not guarantee the correct and complete transmission of the content of a sent e-mail, nor for its timely receipt.

Links 

Our website contains links to other websites and services (such as our payment service, which is managed by Mollie B.V.).

Data policy and cookie statement

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small, simple file that is sent with the pages of this website and is stored by your browser on your computer’s hard drive. The information stored therein can be sent back to our servers upon your next visit. We make minimal use of cookies on our website.

Using permanent cookies

A permanent cookie enables us to recognise you when you revisit our website. This allows the website to be adjusted to your preferences. For example, we use cookies to remember that you have already logged in so that you do not have to repeat your login every time. We use a cookie to remember that you have consented to the placing of cookies. That way, you don’t have to repeat your preferences, saving you time and making it easier for you to use our website. Permanent cookies can be removed via your browser settings.

Google Analytics

Via our website, a cookie is placed by Google as part of its ‘Analytics’ service. We use this service to track and obtain reports about how visitors use our Website. Google may provide this information to third parties when Google is legally obliged to do so or insofar as third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. We have no influence on this. We have not authorised Google to use this analytics information obtained for other Google services.

The information that Google collects is anonymised as much as possible. We have requested Google to mask visitors’ IP addresses, and we have concluded a processing agreement with Google.

The right to access, correct or delete your data

You have the right to request access to and correct or delete your data. Please see our contact page for more information. To prevent abuse, we may ask you to provide adequate identification. When it concerns access to personal data linked to a cookie, you are required to send a copy of the cookie in question. You can find this cookie in your browser settings.

Enabling, disabling and deleting cookies

More information on enabling, disabling and deleting cookies can be found in the instructions of your browser, and/or by using its help function.

More information on cookies?

You can find more information about cookies on the following website here: Your Online Choices: A guide to online behavioural advertising.

Questions

If you have any questions about the Privacy Policy or the use of cookies, please send an e-mail to info@ftm.nl. Follow the Money may amend its Privacy Policy; this page always contains up-to-date information.

Translation: Delia Burggraaf