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Social media privacy policy
Last updated April 2024.
Bank of Scotland plc is committed to protecting you and any information that we collect about you. This privacy policy explains what information may be collected and how it will be used when you access any of our social media channels, and should be read in conjunction with our social media terms of use.
By using our social media channels and providing us with, or posting personal information to our social media channels you are agreeing that you accept these terms. If you disagree with any of these terms you should not access our social media channels.
Information that we collect and how it will be used
When you use any of our social media channels we may record and retain information (anonymous or otherwise) about you. This may include your use of our social media channels, comments you have made or messages you have sent to us.
Information we collect may be shared with other Lloyds Banking Group companies, and any third parties who are acting on our behalf. We use this information to:
- enhance your user experience of our social media channels.
- provide you with assistance.
- provide you with information about our products and services.
- understand the views of our customers (and wider public), to identify problems and improve our products and services.
Any information collected about you through our social media channels may be retained in line with retention periods set out in our privacy notice.
If we transfer your personal information outside the UK, Isle of Man, Channel Islands and EEA (European Economic Area) to our suppliers, we will make sure that it is protected to the same extent as in the UK, Isle of Man, Channel Islands and EEA.
For more information about how we process your personal data including your data rights, visit our privacy notice and cookies policy.
Social media terms of use
Last updated April 2024
1. Bank of Scotland plc (“we”, “us” and “our”) has an active presence on a number of external social channels including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok (“our social media channels”). Our social media terms of use (terms) are intended to help ensure that we are able to engage with our customers and other users of our social media channels in a respectful environment.
2. Please read these terms carefully before you engage with our social media channels, as your use of the social media channels (including those which are accessible on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok) indicates that you accept these terms and agree to comply with them. If you disagree with any of these terms you should not engage with our social media channels.
3. If there are any additional or varied terms and conditions for a particular application or promotion through our social media channels, we will provide you with the new or additional terms and conditions at that time.
4. Because social media and our use of it, is always evolving, we may amend these terms at any time. You should frequently check this webpage to review the current terms because they are binding on you.
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5. While Bank of Scotland plc has official profiles on external social media channels this does not mean that we endorse those channels or the companies that own them, or that we are responsible for their products or services.
6. If you access external social media channels, you do so at your own risk and Bank of Scotland plc is not responsible for any losses or other damage you suffer as a result of its use.
7. The social media channels we use have their own terms and conditions and you need to comply with those terms as well as ours.
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8. Any personal data which you do provide us with is covered under our social media privacy policy.
9. We want you to be safe when using the internet and mobile applications, so please don’t include any account, log on, financial or other personal details when posting content on our social media channels. We only deal with non-account specific queries within our social media channels. We will only ever ask for your contact details in a private message if we need to assist you with further information. We will never direct you to a third-party page or web page that asks for your account information.
Please don’t use our pages to discuss personal banking details or relationships in public. If you have a question about your account or our products and services please refer to the contact us page.
10. Please be aware that:
(a) our social media channels are public and any contribution you make will be available for anyone to see; and
(b) messages sent over the Internet or via mobile applications may not be completely secure as they are subject to possible interception or loss or possible alteration.This is not within our control and so we are not responsible for them and will not be liable to you or anyone else for any damages or otherwise in connection with any message sent by you to us or any message sent by us to you over the Internet or through a mobile application.
11. For more details on how to keep safe online please visit www.getsafeonline.org. You can also read our security guidance in our Security Centre.
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12. You may not use our social media channels for illegal purposes or otherwise misuse our social media channels (including, without limitation, by hacking or impersonating us, or in any way not permitted by these terms).
13. Our social media channels have been created to allow you to communicate with us and about us. You may share and comment on content that we post to our social media channels, provided that you do not amend it and that you cite us as the source.
14. Unless otherwise stated, all trade marks, company names, logos and images used on our social media channels and copyright in the content of our posts (except where other contributors are acknowledged) are the intellectual property of Bank of Scotland plc (or our affiliate Lloyds Banking Group companies or our licensors). You must not copy these or misuse them in any way, or use these for commercial purposes without our consent or an appropriate licence.
15. We will assume that any material you post to our social media channels is not confidential. You retain all of your ownership rights in your content, however you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty free licence to freely use, copy, edit, alter, reproduce, publish, display and/or distribute such material for any and all commercial and non-commercial purposes in any media or through any distribution method.
16. When you submit materials to our social media channels, you confirm that you are entitled to submit the content and that the content is accurate, not confidential, and not in violation of any contractual restrictions or other third party rights.
17. When posting content please be polite, respectful, relevant, accurate where stating facts and civil to others, even if your views differ. Your content must be your original work and comply with the law of England and Wales and any country from which it is posted.
18. You agree not to post or transmit any material:
(a) that is threatening, defamatory, obscene, indecent, offensive, pornographic, abusive, liable to incite racial hatred, discriminatory, menacing, scandalous, inflammatory, blasphemous, in breach of confidence, in breach of privacy or which may cause annoyance, distress or inconvenience; or
(b) for which you have not obtained all necessary licences and/or approvals; or
(c) which constitutes or encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offence, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise be contrary to the law of or infringe the rights of any third party, in any country in the world; or
(d) which is technically harmful (including, without limitation, computer viruses, logic bombs, Trojan horses, worms, harmful components, corrupted data or other malicious software or harmful data).19. You agree to compensate us fully if we suffer loss and damage as a result of your failure to abide by these terms.
20. The language of our social media channels is English and contributions should be made in English. We are unable to respond to content in other languages. This may mean in some instances that we need to remove material if we cannot be certain of its content.
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21. We reserve the right to contact you where we have received complaints about your content, and we may ask you to remove certain content where such content does not comply with these terms or the law. We also reserve the right to moderate any content posted to our social media channels. Where we moderate content before it is posted to our social media channels, we may, at our discretion, refrain from publishing certain material transmitted or posted by you.
Similarly, where we moderate content after it is posted to our social media channels, we may choose to remove material transmitted or posted by you. For example, if we consider the material transmitted by you to be inappropriate for any reason, we may choose to refrain from posting this or delete this from the relevant social media channel(s) (although we shall not be required to do so). We shall be under no obligation to notify you of such decision.
Further, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate your access to all or any of our social media channels in the event that you fail to comply with these terms. Please note, however, that sometimes it may not be possible to moderate our social media channels and our social media channels may potentially be abused by third parties and therefore we cannot promise that no unsuitable third party content will appear on our social media channels.
22. Our social media channels are used to keep in touch with you and they are managed by our employees, the employees of our affiliate Lloyds Banking Group companies or agents selected by us. We regularly update and monitor our social media channels, however we may not always be able to read all messages or reply individually to messages received via these channels. While we want to be helpful and answer relevant questions from you, we do not provide legal, tax, investment or other specialist advice through our social media channels.
If you require such advice, please contact 0345 721 3141, who will try and direct you to someone who can help, or a financial advisor. Lines are open 8am to 6pm, 7 days a week. Calls and online sessions may be monitored and recorded. Not all Telephone Banking services are available 24 hours a day.
23. Our products and services which may be referred to on our social media channels are subject to eligibility criteria and other terms and conditions.
24. Unless otherwise specified, the information on our social media channels is not directed at anyone other than UK residents and applications from others for our products and services may not be accepted. The information contained on our social media channels may not satisfy the laws of any other country.
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25. Links to third party websites or pages on our social media channels are provided solely for your convenience or as part of the nature of how external social networks operate. We do not control them and are not responsible for such websites or their content or availability. We do not endorse or make any promises about them, or any material on these websites or pages nor any results that may be obtained from using them. Any access of third party content you choose to make is entirely at your own risk.
26. Links to downloadable software sites that may be available on social media platforms or third party websites that are linked on our social media channels are not provided, endorsed or checked by us, and we are not responsible for such software or liable for any difficulties or consequences associated with downloading the software.
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27. We do not guarantee that our social media channels, or any content on it, will always be available or be uninterrupted. From time to time, we may at our discretion change, suspend or permanently withdraw all or part of our social media channels without prior notice. For example, we may do so if we are experiencing technical issues relating to our social media channels. You are, of course, free to stop using our social media channels at any time.
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28. The following clauses exclude or limit our legal liability for our social media channels. You should read them carefully. They all apply only as far as the law permits, and in particular we do not intend to affect our duties and liabilities to you under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, or the rules and regulations for the conduct of business under this Act, nor any rights you may have where you are a consumer including your right to receive a reasonable standard of service.
For more information about your rights, you may contact your local Citizens Advice, Trading Standards Office or the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) and PRA (Prudential Regulatory Authority).
29. Our social media channels may contain complex information. We have tried to make it as clear, easy to use and as accurate as possible. However we do not warrant that any content posted by us is accurate, complete, or up to date. We will have no liability to you if it is not.
30. We aim for open, respectful communication on the relevant topics within our social media channels. While, where possible, we do conduct some moderation, we do not control and are not liable for content posted by third parties. Any use or reliance on such content or materials posted is at your own risk. We do not endorse, support, represent or guarantee the completeness, truthfulness, accuracy or reliability of any content posted by third parties.
You understand that by using our social media channels, you may be exposed to content that might be offensive, harmful, inaccurate or otherwise inappropriate, or in some cases, postings that have been mislabelled or are otherwise misleading. We will not be liable in any way for such content.
31. Please keep in mind that other users of our social media channels who provide content may claim expertise or standing that they do not, in fact, possess. You should give careful thought before following any advice posted by other users who are not verifiable as representing us.
32. No endorsement or approval of any third parties or their advice, opinions, information, content, products or services is expressed or implied by the display of information or advertisements by external social media channels alongside our content or logos and we have no control over the content of such third party advertisements.
33. We are not responsible for: (i) losses not caused by our breach; (ii) failure to perform or provide any services where such failure is due to events beyond our control; (iii) indirect losses which are a side effect of the main loss or damage and which are not reasonably foreseeable by you and us at the time of entering into these terms,
For example loss of profits or loss of opportunity; (iv) loss or damage in connection with any third party website, applications or software linked from our social media channels; (v) loss or damage due to viruses or other harmful code which may infect your device.
34. Nothing in these terms shall exclude or limit our liability for:
(a) death or personal injury caused by negligence; or
(b) fraud; or
(c) misrepresentation as to a fundamental matter; or
(d) any liability which cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.35. If you breach these terms and we take no action against you, we will still be entitled to use our rights and remedies in any other situation where you breach these terms.
36. If any part of these terms is disallowed or found to be ineffective by any court or regulator, the other provisions shall continue to apply.
37. Our social media channels are directed at people in the UK and designed for use in the UK.
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38. These terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. Disputes arising in connection with these terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the relevant UK courts.