Last updated: 21 September 2026
Who we are
The XR Beat is published by BEATSHIFT MEDIA LTD, registered in England and Wales under company number 17440179. Our registered office is Department Campfield C/O Amarillo Accounting Ltd, 5 Lower Byrom Street, Manchester, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom, M3 4FP.
BEATSHIFT MEDIA LTD is responsible for the personal information described here and is its data controller. This policy covers our website, newsletter, enquiries, editorial work and business relationships.
For privacy questions, requests or complaints, email [email protected], or write to our registered office.
Information we use and why
Website visits. Our website and service providers receive technical information such as IP addresses, browser and device details, pages requested and security logs. We use this to deliver and protect the site and investigate faults, relying on our legitimate interests in running a reliable publication. We also count article views through WP Popular Posts to identify popular content. With your consent, Google Analytics uses identifiers and information about visits and interactions to help us understand readership and improve the site. Any device storage or access requiring consent is subject to the controls below.
Enquiries and business relationships. We use the name, email address, professional details and messages you provide to answer enquiries, manage relationships and discuss work. Our basis is our legitimate interests in communicating and running the publication. Where you personally enter a contract with us, we also use information to perform it or take steps you request beforehand. We keep accounting and other records where required by law.
Newsletter. We use Mailchimp to manage subscriptions and send the newsletter with your consent. Information includes your email address, any name you provide, signup and consent records, and delivery, bounce and unsubscribe information. Mailchimp can also record email opens and link clicks; we use this tracking only where permitted and with consent where required. Unsubscribe using the link in any newsletter or email us. We retain a minimal record of your opt-out to honour it and prevent accidental resubscription.
Editorial work. We use professional and contact details, correspondence, quotes, photographs, interview recordings and transcripts to research, verify and publish journalism, handle corrections and maintain our archive. Information may come from you, interviewees, sources, company websites, press releases, public registers and professional profiles. Our basis is our legitimate interests in journalism and informing our readers. Where relevant, we also process information to fulfil contributor agreements. Any journalism exemption is applied only when its legal conditions are met.
Providing information is usually voluntary. We need an email address to send the newsletter or reply to an enquiry, and relevant contact and billing details for a contract. We do not make solely automated decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects.
Cookies and similar technologies
Cookies, browser storage and pixels can remember choices, support features and measure activity. Some are set by The XR Beat and others by services used on the site.
| Use | What it does |
|---|---|
| Necessary operation and security | Records consent choices and supports essential site functions and protection against abuse. |
| Preferences | Remembers choices such as display settings or your position when returning to a page. |
| Google Analytics | Measures visits and interactions to help us understand readership. This is optional. |
| Mailchimp forms | Displays the newsletter signup form, remembers whether it has appeared, and can measure form activity. Optional tracking is subject to your choices. |
| YouTube embeds | Displays videos through Google/YouTube. When enabled, YouTube receives information including your IP address and device details and may use cookies for playback, measurement and advertising, including linking activity to a Google account if you are signed in. |
You can accept optional cookies, reject them or select your preferences in the banner. Use Cookie Settings in the footer at any time to change or withdraw your choices. Optional technologies requiring consent are disabled unless you allow them. Rejecting them may prevent embedded videos or the newsletter pop-up from appearing. Necessary technologies remain available. Where a preference you explicitly request can lawfully be remembered without consent, we use it only for that purpose.
Cookie Settings provides the detailed inventory, including providers, purposes and lifetimes. Some storage lasts for a browsing session; other items persist until their stated expiry or until you clear them. Local storage may remain until it is removed. Your browser also lets you delete or block stored data, although doing so can reset your preferences or affect features.
Website cookie choices and newsletter subscription choices are separate. Accepting cookies does not subscribe you to emails, and unsubscribing does not change your browser’s cookie settings.
Sharing and international transfers
We use service providers for hosting, security, email, storage, backups, analytics and newsletter delivery. Relevant providers include Mailchimp, part of Intuit, for newsletters, and Google for Analytics and YouTube. Providers processing information on our behalf receive it for their agreed services. Google/YouTube may also process information for its own purposes under its privacy policy. Mailchimp explains its practices in its privacy information and cookie statement.
Editorial information intended for publication may appear in our publicly accessible reporting. We may also share information with professional advisers or authorities where necessary to meet legal obligations or establish, exercise or defend legal rights. We do not sell our newsletter mailing list.
Some providers process information outside the UK, including in the United States. Where required, transfers rely on UK adequacy regulations or approved contractual safeguards, such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses. Mailchimp’s data processing terms provide for the Data Privacy Framework, including its UK extension, and contractual safeguards where applicable. Contact us for information about the safeguards relevant to your data or a copy of them.
How long we keep information
We keep information only for as long as its purpose reasonably requires. For enquiries and business correspondence, this depends on whether the matter is resolved, the relationship continues, or records are needed for a legal claim. Financial records are kept for the applicable legal period. Security records are kept according to operational and investigation needs.
Newsletter details are kept while you remain subscribed, with limited consent and suppression records retained to demonstrate and respect your choices. Editorial material may be retained longer to support published reporting, corrections, legal claims and the continuing public interest in our archive. Cookie lifetimes are shown in Cookie Settings and are separate from the retention of information collected through them.
Your rights
Depending on the circumstances, you can request access to your information, correction, deletion, restricted use or a portable copy. You can withdraw consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of earlier use. Contact us using the details above; newsletter and cookie choices can also be changed as explained in this policy. Some rights have legal exceptions, including for qualifying journalistic work.
Your right to object: you can object to use based on legitimate interests for reasons connected with your situation. You can always object to direct marketing, including associated profiling.
Complaints
You can raise a data protection complaint by email or post using the contact details above. We will acknowledge it within 30 days, investigate, keep you informed and explain the outcome without undue delay.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data protection regulator, about how we handle your personal information. You can find information about making a complaint on the ICO website.
Changes to this policy
We update this page when our practices change and revise the date above. Where a change requires fresh consent or a separate notice, we will provide it.
