Privacy Policy
Effective October 9, 2026
Rooted Way Assembly operates rootedwayassembly.org and the Assembly’s social media accounts. This policy explains what information the Assembly collects, how we use it, and the choices you have. We do not sell personal information, and we do not use advertising trackers on this site.
Information you give us
Contact form. When you write to us, we collect your name, email address, subject, and message so we can read and answer it.
Newsletter signup. When you sign up for updates, we collect your email address and, if you choose to give them, your first and last name, so we can send you Assembly news and teaching updates.
Form submissions are stored privately in the website’s database and are visible only to Assembly administrators. We keep them only as long as needed to respond to you or to send the updates you requested. You can ask us to delete them at any time.
Comments. If comments are open and you leave one, we collect the information in the comment form, plus your IP address and browser user agent, to help detect spam.
Information collected automatically
Security. To protect the site from abuse, we briefly use IP addresses to limit repeated form submissions and login attempts. They are used only for that purpose and are not kept longer than it requires.
Cookies. Visitors who are only reading the site do not need cookies. WordPress sets cookies only when you log in (to keep you signed in) or leave a comment and choose to save your details. Login cookies last up to two weeks, and saved comment details last up to one year.
Videos. Teaching videos from YouTube do not load until you click to play them, and they use YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com). Once you play a video, YouTube may store cookies or similar information on your device, and Google’s privacy policy applies to that video (see the YouTube section below).
Our social media accounts
The Assembly shares its own teachings and announcements on social media. An Assembly administrator reviews and approves each post. Our website’s publishing tool, Rooted Way Assembly Publisher, then publishes it to the Assembly’s own accounts through each platform’s official API. Some platforms, such as TikTok, are posted to by hand in the platform’s own app, with no connection to this website.
These connections are authorized by an Assembly administrator and work only on accounts the Assembly owns. We do not use them to collect information about visitors, followers, commenters, or any other users, and we do not read or store anyone’s messages, contacts, or activity. The access credentials for these connections are stored securely and are never shown publicly.
For each connected platform, we store only what publishing needs:
| Platform | What the connection is used for | What we store | How access is removed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Facebook Page and Instagram (Meta) | Publish approved posts and images to the Assembly’s Page and Instagram account | Page and Instagram account IDs, access credentials, and the IDs of posts we create | Facebook Settings → Business integrations, or remove the app from the Page |
| Threads (Meta) | Publish approved short posts (when connected) | Account ID, access credentials, and the IDs of posts we create | Threads Settings → Account → Website permissions |
| Publish approved Pins to the Assembly’s boards | Account username, access credentials, chosen board IDs and names, and the IDs of Pins we create | Pinterest Settings → apps with access to the account | |
| X | Publish approved posts (when connected) | Access credentials and the IDs of posts we create | X Settings → Security and account access → Apps and sessions |
| YouTube (Google) | Upload approved videos to the Assembly’s channel (when connected) | Access credentials, the channel ID, and the IDs of videos we upload | Google security settings → third-party access |
| Bluesky | Publish approved posts | Account handle, access credentials, and the IDs of posts we create | Bluesky Settings → Privacy and security → App passwords |
| Telegram | Post approved updates to the Assembly’s public channel through a bot | Access credentials, the channel ID, and the IDs of messages we post | Remove the bot from the channel or revoke it with @BotFather |
| Mastodon | Publish approved posts (when connected) | Access credentials and the IDs of posts we create | Mastodon Preferences → Account → Authorized apps |
We keep these credentials only while a connection is in use and delete them when the Assembly disconnects a platform or stops using it. We keep the IDs and links of published posts as a record of what the Assembly published. We do not sell, license, or share data received from any platform, except with our web host, which stores the site for us, or when the law requires it. Data we send to a platform (the post text, image or video, and link) is shared with that platform so it can publish the post, and that platform’s own privacy policy then applies.
The social media icons on this site are plain links. They do not load tracking scripts from those platforms. When you follow a link to one of them, that platform’s own privacy policy applies.
Our website’s publishing tool, Rooted Way Assembly Publisher, connects to the Assembly’s Pinterest account (@rootedwayassembly). An Assembly administrator authorizes this connection through Pinterest’s own sign-in and consent screen (OAuth). The tool asks Pinterest only for these permissions:
- Read account information, to confirm which Pinterest account was connected.
- Read boards, so an administrator can choose which of the Assembly’s boards each kind of post goes to.
- Write to boards, which Pinterest requires in order to add a Pin to a board. The tool does not create, rename, or delete boards.
- Read and create Pins, to publish approved Pins that link back to our articles and to confirm they were published.
From Pinterest, we store the connected account’s username, the access tokens Pinterest provides, the names and IDs of the boards chosen for publishing, and the IDs of Pins we create. They are stored securely. We do not read, collect, or store other Pinterest users’ information, followers, or activity, and we do not share Pinterest data with anyone.
The Assembly can revoke this access at any time in Pinterest’s settings, under the apps that have access to the account. After access is revoked, the stored tokens no longer work. Pinterest’s privacy policy is available at policy.pinterest.com/privacy-policy.
YouTube and Google
This website uses YouTube API Services: it shows teaching videos with the YouTube player and, when connected, uploads the Assembly’s approved videos to the Assembly’s own YouTube channel. By watching YouTube videos on this site, you agree to be bound by the YouTube Terms of Service. Google’s handling of information is described in the Google Privacy Policy.
The upload connection is authorized by an Assembly administrator through Google’s own consent screen and is used only to upload the videos, titles, and descriptions that the Assembly approves. It stores the access tokens, the channel ID, and the IDs of uploaded videos. It does not access other channels, viewers’ information, or watch history, and we do not share YouTube data with anyone. Access can be revoked at any time on the Google security settings page; we then delete the stored tokens within 30 days.
Rooted Way Assembly’s use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
How to ask us to delete your information
You can ask us to delete any personal information we hold about you, including form submissions, newsletter signups, comments, and any information received from a social platform. Email contact@rootedwayassembly.org with the subject “Data deletion request” and tell us the email address or account the request is about. To protect you, we confirm each request with that email address or account before deleting anything, so no one can remove someone else’s information. Once confirmed, we complete the deletion within 7 days, and tell you if the law requires us to keep anything.
If you connected or interacted with the Assembly through Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Pinterest, X, YouTube, Bluesky, Telegram, or Mastodon, you can also remove the Assembly’s access in that platform’s settings, as listed in the table above. We do not keep data from a platform after its access is removed, except the record of posts the Assembly published.
Who we share information with
We do not sell, rent, or trade personal information. Our web hosting provider stores the site and its database for us. When we publish a post, its text, image or video, and link go to the platform that publishes it; we do not send visitors’ personal information to social platforms. If you request a password reset, the reset email includes your IP address. We may disclose information if the law requires it.
Backups
We keep a small number of private, protected backups of the website database so the site can be recovered after a failure. Older backups are deleted automatically.
Your choices and rights
You can ask us what personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it (see how to ask us to delete your information). You can ask us to stop sending you updates at any time. We may keep information we are required to keep for legal or security reasons.
This site is intended for a general audience and does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has sent us information, please contact us and we will delete it.
Changes and contact
If this policy changes, we will post the update on this page and change the effective date. For questions or privacy requests, email contact@rootedwayassembly.org or use our contact page.