Last updated: August 2026
MGW respects your privacy and is committed to handling personal information responsibly, transparently and in accordance with applicable data protection legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
This Privacy Policy explains what information may be collected when you visit or interact with MGW, how that information may be used and the rights available to you.
1. Who We Are
MGW is an independent community platform intended to document, discuss and raise awareness of issues affecting communities in Malta and Gozo.
For questions concerning this Privacy Policy or the handling of personal data, please contact:
2. Information We May Collect
Depending on how you use the website, MGW may collect:
- Your name, where voluntarily provided
- Your email address
- Information included in messages submitted through our Contact Us form
- Reports submitted through our Report It form
- Locality, location or street information connected with a report
- Photographs, videos, screenshots or other files you choose to upload
- Technical information such as IP address, browser type and basic website security logs
- Cookie and analytics information where you have consented to non-essential cookies
You are encouraged not to provide more personal information than is necessary.
3. Photos, Videos and Reports
MGW allows members of the public to submit photographs, videos and information concerning issues affecting their communities.
Submitted material may incidentally contain personal data relating to other individuals, including images of people, vehicle registration plates, voices, addresses or other identifying information.
Where reasonably possible, contributors should avoid submitting unnecessary personal information.
Faces, vehicle registration plates and other identifying information should be obscured where they are not necessary to understand the issue being reported.
MGW may also edit, crop, blur or otherwise obscure identifying information before publication.
Material containing nudity or exposed private parts may be obscured, rejected or removed.
The submission of material does not guarantee publication. MGW reserves the right to review, edit, anonymise, refuse or remove submitted material.
4. How We Use Personal Information
Personal information may be used to:
- Respond to enquiries
- Review and manage reports
- Verify or clarify information submitted to MGW
- Moderate submitted content
- Prevent spam, abuse, fraudulent submissions or misuse of the website
- Protect the security and integrity of MGW
- Publish community reports where appropriate
- Respond to privacy, correction or removal requests
- Comply with applicable legal obligations
- Establish, exercise or defend legal claims where necessary
MGW will only process personal information where there is an appropriate lawful basis for doing so.
5. Publication of Submitted Content
Information submitted through MGW may be intended for public awareness and may therefore be published on the website or MGW’s associated social-media channels.
However, submitting information does not automatically mean that all information supplied will be published.
Contact details submitted privately through a form, such as an email address, will not normally be published as part of a report.
MGW will endeavour to minimise unnecessary personal information and may anonymise or obscure information before publication.
6. Third-Party Personal Information
If you submit material containing information about another individual, please only provide information that is reasonably necessary to document the issue being reported.
Do not deliberately submit:
- Private correspondence
- Financial information
- Identification documents
- Medical information
- Private telephone numbers
- Private email addresses
- Information concerning children unless genuinely necessary
- Material intended primarily to humiliate, harass or expose another person
MGW may remove or refuse such material.
7. Sharing Information
Personal information is not sold to advertisers.
Information may be shared with service providers necessary to operate the website, such as hosting, email, security, form-processing or analytics providers.
Information may also be disclosed where reasonably necessary to comply with a legal obligation, respond to a lawful request, protect the rights or safety of individuals, or establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
Where a report concerns a matter that may appropriately be referred to a competent authority, MGW may communicate relevant information where there is a lawful basis for doing so.
8. Cookies and Analytics
MGW may use cookies that are necessary for the website to function correctly.
Optional cookies, including analytics or similar tracking technologies, will only be used where required consent has been obtained.
Visitors can accept, reject or manage optional cookies through the cookie preference controls available on the website.
Consent can be changed or withdrawn through the cookie settings made available on the website.
Further information is available in our Cookie Policy.
9. Data Retention
Personal information will not be retained for longer than reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected.
Retention periods may vary depending on the nature of the information, whether it forms part of a published report, whether correspondence remains active, security requirements and whether information must be retained for legal purposes.
Information that is no longer required will be deleted or anonymised where appropriate.
10. Your Data Protection Rights
Depending on the circumstances, you may have rights including the right to:
- Request access to personal data concerning you
- Request correction of inaccurate information
- Request deletion of personal information
- Request restriction of processing
- Object to certain processing
- Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent
- Request data portability where applicable
- Lodge a complaint with the competent data protection authority
Requests concerning personal information can be sent to:
MGW may need to request reasonable information to verify your identity before acting on certain requests.
11. Content Removal and Privacy Requests
If you appear in a photograph or video published on MGW, or believe that content published on the website unnecessarily reveals personal information about you, you may contact us requesting review.
Please provide the URL of the relevant page or post and sufficient information for us to locate the material.
Requests will be assessed taking into account the circumstances of the publication, applicable data protection law, legitimate interests, freedom of expression and information, and the rights and interests of the individuals involved.
A request does not automatically require removal of the entire report. Where appropriate, MGW may instead blur, anonymise, edit or restrict identifying information.
12. Security
Reasonable technical and organisational measures are used to protect information against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or loss.
However, no internet-based system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.
13. External Websites
MGW may contain links to third-party websites.
MGW is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of external websites. Visitors should review the privacy policies of those websites separately.
14. Children
MGW is not intended as a service for children to submit personal information independently.
Users should exercise particular care when submitting photographs, video or information involving minors.
MGW may remove or obscure information identifying a child where appropriate.
15. Complaints
If you believe that your personal data has been handled improperly, please contact MGW first so that the matter can be reviewed.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority. In Malta, this is the Office of the Information and Data Protection Commissioner (IDPC).
16. Changes to This Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time to reflect changes to the website, its services or applicable requirements.