The data controller for Tobacco Nexus is Alistair Servet, independent researcher and journalist covering tobacco and nicotine policy, based in France. Contact: [email protected]
This policy covers two distinct categories of personal data processing: data relating to individuals listed in the database, and data submitted through the contact forms on this site.
Tobacco Nexus documents connections between entities and the world's five largest tobacco corporations. Some entries concern named individuals — current or former employees, executives, lobbyists, consultants, researchers, board members, and others with documented professional ties to the tobacco industry.
Legal basis. This processing is carried out in the exercise of journalistic activity and for research purposes in the public interest, in accordance with Article 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest) and Article 85 GDPR, which allows member states to provide exemptions or derogations for processing carried out for journalistic, academic, artistic or literary purposes. In France, this is implemented through the loi du 29 juillet 1881 sur la liberté de la presse and subsequent texts.
Data sources. Only publicly available information is used: lobbying and transparency registers, company filings, official registries, event programmes, academic publications, court documents, press releases and published investigative reports. No private, health-related, or sensitive data is included unless it has been made public in a relevant official or journalistic context.
Retention. Entries are retained as long as they are relevant to the documented journalistic purpose. Entries may be updated, corrected or removed following a request or when information becomes demonstrably outdated.
Rights. Individuals listed in the database may request access to, rectification of, or deletion of their entry by contacting [email protected]. Requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Where the journalistic purpose justifies retaining an entry, this will be explained. Where deletion or correction is appropriate, it will be carried out promptly.
The Request access and Contribute forms collect the name, email address and message content submitted voluntarily by the user.
Legal basis. Article 6(1)(b) GDPR — processing is necessary to respond to the request made by the person submitting the form.
Sub-processor. Form submissions are transmitted via Web3Forms, a third-party form processing service. Data is used solely for the purpose of delivering the submission. Web3Forms privacy policy: web3forms.com/privacy.
Retention. Form submissions are retained only as long as necessary to process the request. Email correspondence is not retained beyond the period of active exchange.
This site is hosted on Cloudflare Pages and protected by Cloudflare Access and Cloudflare Turnstile. As part of delivering and securing the site, Cloudflare processes technical data including IP addresses, browser information and request metadata. This processing is governed by Cloudflare's privacy policy.
This site does not use analytics services, advertising trackers or third-party marketing cookies.
This site uses only technically necessary cookies set by Cloudflare for security and bot protection purposes (__cf_bm, cf_clearance). These cookies are required for the site to function and cannot be disabled without breaking core security features.
No consent is required for strictly necessary cookies under the ePrivacy Directive. No preference, analytics or advertising cookies are used.
Under the GDPR, you have the right to access, rectify, erase or object to the processing of your personal data, and the right to data portability where applicable. To exercise any of these rights, contact [email protected].
If you believe your data is being processed unlawfully, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the French data protection authority, the CNIL: cnil.fr · 3 Place de Fontenoy, 75007 Paris.
In accordance with French law n°2004-575 of 21 June 2004 (LCEN — loi pour la confiance dans l'économie numérique), the following information is provided:
Publisher. Alistair Servet, independent researcher and journalist covering tobacco and nicotine policy. Contact: [email protected]
Hosting. This site is hosted by Cloudflare, Inc., 101 Townsend St, San Francisco, CA 94107, United States. cloudflare.com
Intellectual property. The content of this site — editorial texts, database structure and original descriptions — is published under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence. Reproduction for non-commercial purposes is permitted with attribution. The factual data drawn from public sources (lobbying registers, company filings, official documents) is not subject to copyright.
This policy was last updated in June 2026. Material changes will be reflected here with an updated date.