Privacy Policy

Published by The Business News Company of Toronto Inc.

Effective date: February 1, 2026 Last updated: February 1, 2026.

Who we are and how to reach us
What this policy covers
What we collect
Why we collect it
Consent, and how to withdraw it
Advertising: what sponsors do and do not receive
Who we share information with
Where your information goes
How long we keep it
Your rights
Automated decision-making
Security
Children
Quebec residents
Readers outside Canada
Complaints
Changes to this policy

1. Who we are and how to reach us

This Privacy Policy explains how The Business News Company of Toronto Inc. ("The Peak," "we," "us," "our") collects, uses, discloses, and protects personal information.

The Business News Company of Toronto Inc., 68 Claremont St, Toronto, Ontario, M6J 2M5, Canada

Privacy Officer: Brett Chang
Email: [email protected]

Our Privacy Officer is accountable for our compliance with this policy and with applicable Canadian privacy law. If you have a question, a request about your information, or a complaint, please email [email protected].

2. What this policy covers

This policy applies to:

readthepeak.com and all of its subdomains.
Our email newsletters
Peak Premium, our paid subscription, and other paid products
Our podcasts, videos, and audio-narrated articles
Our mobile application
Our events, surveys, contests, referral programs, and reader correspondence

Together we call these the "Services."

What this policy does not cover. Third-party platforms we publish on — Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, X — operate under their own privacy policies. When you interact with us there, that platform's policy governs, not ours. We also link to third-party websites in our journalism and in advertisements. We do not control those sites or make any representations as to how they handle your information and data.

Journalism. Personal information we collect, use or publish for journalistic purposes — reporting, research, interviews, and the stories we publish — is not covered by this policy. Our editorial standards govern how we handle that information.

Syndication. Some of our stories may appear on other platforms, such as Apple News. When you read us there, that platform's privacy policy applies, not ours.

3. What we collect

3.1 Information you give us

Email address and name — when you subscribe to a newsletter
Account credentials — when you create an account or subscribe to Peak Premium
Billing information — when you subscribe to Peak Premium (see 3.4)
Mailing address — when you claim a referral prize, contest prize, annual subscriber gift, or through other means
Survey data - we occasionally run surveys, and data collected through these fields is linked to your account
Content preferences and newsletter selections — when you set or update them
Survey and poll responses — when you choose to respond
Contest and referral entries — when you enter
Salary and employment details — when you submit to the Peak Salary Index (see 3.6)
Comments, posts and display names — when you use public features (see 3.8)
Correspondence — when you email us, reply to a newsletter, or contact support
Submissions — when you pitch or submit work
Event registration details — when you register for an event

You do not have to give us any of this. But some of it is necessary for parts of the Services to function — we cannot send you a newsletter without an email address, or ship you a prize without an address.

3.2 Information we collect automatically

From our newsletters. We record whether an email was delivered, whether it was opened, approximately where it was opened, and which links were clicked. This is done through a small tracking pixel and tagged links. We use it to measure which stories readers value, to report aggregate engagement to advertisers, and to identify inactive subscribers so we can stop emailing people who have lost interest.

If you would rather not be counted, most email clients let you manage this setting.

From our websites and app. IP address, approximate location derived from IP (typically city-level), browser and device type, operating system, referring page, pages viewed, time spent, and interactions such as games played or articles read. For the mobile app, this may also include device identifiers, app version, crash diagnostics, and — if you enable them — push notification tokens.

3.3 Cookies and similar technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies for four purposes:

Strictly necessary — keeping you logged in, remembering your cookie preferences, securing the site. These cannot be switched off.
Analytics — Google Analytics, to understand how people find and use our sites.
Advertising — the Meta pixel and the TikTok pixel, which let us measure the performance of ads we buy on those platforms to grow our readership, and reach similar audiences.
Functional — remembering preferences such as saved game progress.

You can accept, decline, or customize non-essential cookies through the banner shown on your first visit, and change your choice at any time here. You can also block or delete cookies through your browser settings, though strictly necessary cookies are required for logged-in features to work.

Note that the Meta and TikTok pixels are advertising tools operated by those companies. Information they collect through the pixel is also subject to their own privacy policies and, to a degree, is used for their own purposes. If you decline advertising cookies, we do not load them.

Quebec residents. Analytics and advertising cookies are off by default for visitors in Quebec. They load only if you turn them on.

3.4 Payment information

Peak Premium payments are processed by Stripe, through our publishing platform beehiiv. Your full card number never reaches our systems and we do not store it. We receive a record that a payment succeeded or failed, the subscription plan, the billing period, and a partial card identifier (such as the last four digits and card brand) for support purposes.

3.5 Sensitive information

We typically do not seek out sensitive personal information — health, biometric, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or similar. Please don't send it to us in correspondence or survey responses. If you do, we will treat it as confidential and delete it when it no longer serves the purpose you sent it for.

One exception is compensation and employment data you choose to submit to the Salary Index, which we treat as sensitive and protect as described in 3.6. Any sensitive data collected through optional surveys is treated similarly.

3.6 Salary Index submissions

If you submit to the Peak Salary Index, we collect your pay, job title, function, seniority, location, employer, and the email address you use to verify your submission.

Confidential, not anonymous. We verify submissions by email, so we can link a submission to you. We never publish that link, but like any record we hold, it could be compelled by a court order or other legal process (see 7.3 and 8).
What we publish. Aggregated figures only. We do not show figures for an employer until a sufficient number of submissions exist to reasonably protect anonymity of individual submissions.
Your choice. Submitting is optional. You can ask us to delete your submission at any time (see section 10) which removes all your information from the index and our servers.

Please don't put information that identifies you or anyone else in free-text fields.

3.7 Information from other sources

We sometimes receive personal information from others:

Gift and group subscriptions — if someone gives you Peak Premium, or your employer or school gives you access, they give us your name and email address.
Sign-in with Google or Apple — if you log in this way, that company shares your email address and any other details you allow.
Newsletter recommendations — if another publication recommends us and you choose to subscribe, it passes us your email address.
Advertising platforms — if you sign up through a form on Meta, TikTok or another platform, it passes us the details you entered.
Partners — when we run a contest or event jointly with another organization.

We handle this information under this policy, the same as information you give us directly.

3.8 Things you make public

Some features show information to other readers, such as comments, community posts, and display names on game leaderboards. Anything you post there is public, so don't include details you want kept private.

Events. We may photograph or record our events and use the images in our newsletters, websites and social channels. We will say so at the event, and you can tell our staff if you would rather not be included.

4. Why we collect it

We use personal information to:

Deliver the newsletters, podcasts, games, and articles you signed up for
Create and maintain your account, and authenticate you across our properties
Process, renew, and support your Peak Premium subscription, and fulfil subscriber benefits
Measure which of our journalism resonates, so we can make the publication better
Produce aggregate audience and campaign reporting for advertisers
Buy advertising to reach new readers, and measure whether it worked
Run contests, referral programs, giveaways, and events, and deliver prizes
Respond to your questions, complaints, and submissions
Detect and prevent fraud, abuse, spam signups, referral gaming, and security incidents
Comply with our legal obligations, including record-keeping under Canada's anti-spam legislation

We will not use your personal information for a materially new purpose without telling you and, where required, obtaining your consent.

5. Consent, and how to withdraw it

Under Canadian law we generally need your consent to collect, use, or disclose your personal information, and under Canada's anti-spam legislation (CASL) we need consent to send you commercial email.

How we get it. You give express consent when you enter your email address and subscribe. We keep records of when and how you subscribed, as CASL requires.

How to withdraw it. Every email we send contains an unsubscribe link. It works, it takes effect promptly, and you do not need to give a reason or contact anyone. You can also email [email protected].

One newsletter at a time. Each newsletter has its own unsubscribe link.

Ads for The Peak on online platforms. To stop us using your hashed email address to show you ads on Meta or TikTok, email [email protected]. You can also adjust ad settings on those platforms directly.

App notifications and location. You can turn off push notifications at any time in your device settings. If our app ever uses your precise location, it will ask you first, and you can turn it off in your device settings.

Withdrawing consent for marketing email does not end your Peak Premium subscription, and it does not stop transactional messages — receipts, renewal notices, password resets, and material changes to these policies. Those are not commercial electronic messages under CASL and you cannot opt out of them while you hold an active account or subscription.

Withdrawing consent may mean we can no longer provide parts of the Services.

6. Advertising

Advertisers may receive: aggregate campaign metrics — the number of emails delivered, the aggregate open rate, the total number of clicks on their placement, and comparable site-level metrics. These are counts and percentages.

Advertisers do not receive: your email address, your name, your IP address, any subscriber list, any subscriber-level engagement data, or any means of identifying who opened or clicked. We do not sell, rent, licence, or trade subscriber lists. Sponsors may from time to time advertise promotions that solicit your personal information — whether you choose to share this is entirely up to you.

We do not subscribe you to third-party newsletters or partner lists without your consent. If we ever offer a recommendation feature that shares your email address with another publisher, it will require your affirmative, informed opt-in at the moment of sharing.

7. Who we share information with

We disclose personal information only in the situations below.

7.1 Service providers

We use third parties to run the business. They may process personal information on our behalf, under contract, only for the purposes we specify, and they may not use it for their own purposes. From time to time, we will share personal information with these service providers to perform activities on our behalf, such as processing payments, maintaining technology and related infrastructure, delivering communications and services, offering you customer service, and hosting our data. We strive to ensure our vendors process personal information consistent with the standards set out in this policy. Your personal information may be transferred to our service providers or affiliates located outside of your province, or outside of Canada (including in the United States and the E.U.), for storage and processing.

7.2 Analytics and advertising partners

Google (Analytics), Meta and TikTok work differently from the providers above. When their tools run on our sites, those companies collect information directly and may use it for their own purposes, such as improving their services and targeting ads, under their own privacy policies. We load these tools only if you accept analytics or advertising cookies (see 3.3).

We may aslo upload hashed (scrambled) subscriber email addresses to Meta and TikTok. They use these to show ads for The Peak to existing readers, to avoid showing them to people who already subscribe, and to find similar audiences. Hashing means the platforms can match an address to an account they already have, but can't read addresses that don't match. We never upload anything about what you read or click. You can opt out at any time (see section 5).

7.3 Legal and safety

We may disclose personal information where required by law — a court order, subpoena, warrant, or regulatory demand — or where we reasonably believe disclosure is necessary to investigate suspected illegal activity, enforce our terms of service, protect our legal rights, or prevent harm.

7.4 Business transfers

If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction.

7.5 Business partners or with your direction

If you ask us to share your information — for example, by entering a contest run jointly with a partner — we will, and we will tell you who receives it before you commit.

From time to time, we organize events and promotions with partners. In these cases, we might share your personal information with such third parties for event management, administration, communication, and analysis purposes. We will inform you beforehand if they will have access to your information. In some cases, you will be asked if you want to share information with the third party.

8. Where your information goes

Several of our service providers, including beehiiv, Stripe, and Google, are located in the United States, and some may process or store data in other countries. When personal information is held outside Canada, it is subject to the laws of that jurisdiction, and courts, law enforcement, and regulatory authorities there may be able to compel access to it under their own legal processes.

9. Data retention

We retain your personal information for as long as is necessary to comply with our data retention requirements, to provide you with services, and for our legitimate business operations.

10. Your rights

You have the right to:

Access the personal information we hold about you, and be told how it has been used and to whom it has been disclosed
Correct information that is inaccurate, incomplete, or out of date
Withdraw consent, subject to legal and contractual restrictions
Delete your information, subject to our legal retention obligations
Receive a copy of the computerized personal information you gave us, in a structured, commonly used technological format, and ask us to transmit it to another organization
Complain to us, and escalate if you are not satisfied

Unsubscribing vs deleting. Unsubscribing stops our emails but keeps a record, so we can honour your choice. Deleting your account removes your personal information, except what the law requires us to keep, such as billing records and proof that you unsubscribed. To delete your account, use email [email protected].

There is no charge for a reasonable request. If a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, we will tell you before doing anything, and explain why.

If we say no. We will tell you in writing, give our reasons, and explain how to challenge the decision.

11. Automated decision-making

We use automated processes for routine operations, such as segmenting subscribers by engagement, personalizing which stories appear on our sites, detecting fraudulent signups and referral abuse.

We do not make decisions based exclusively on automated processing that produce legal effects for you or otherwise significantly affect you.

Segmenting by engagement and personalizing stories use your reading activity to build a profile. You can turn off personalization by emailing [email protected].

12. Security

We protect personal information with measures appropriate to its sensitivity, including encryption in transit, access controls limiting staff access to what their role requires, multi-factor authentication on administrative systems, and vendor due diligence.

If a breach occurs that creates a real risk of significant harm to you, we will notify you and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada — and the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec where Quebec residents are affected — as the law requires, and we will maintain records of breaches as required.

13. Children

The Services are intended for adults and are not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact [email protected] and we will delete it.

14. Readers outside Canada

The Peak is a Canadian publication written for a Canadian audience, and this policy is built around Canadian law.

If you reside in a jurisdiction that grants you additional privacy rights, contact [email protected] and we will consider your request in good faith and comply where we are legally required to do so.

15. Complaints

Contact our Privacy Officer first — most issues are resolved quickly that way. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to:

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada — priv.gc.ca — 1-800-282-1376
Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec (Quebec residents) — cai.gouv.qc.ca — 1-888-528-7741

Residents of Alberta, British Columbia, and other provinces may also contact their provincial privacy commissioner.

16. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. If we make a material change, we will update the "Last updated" date and post a notice on our website.

For minor changes, such as clarifications or new contact details, continuing to use the Services after the change takes effect means you accept the updated policy. We will not use information you have already given us for a new purpose without your consent.

Questions: [email protected]