Participant Privacy
Last Updated: November 2026
This privacy policy explains how Motives ("we", "us") handles your personal data when you participate in our AI-moderated research interviews.
1. Who Controls Your Data
The company that commissioned the research (the “Client”) decides how your data is used and is the controller of your data. Motives processes your data on the Client’s behalf to run and analyze the research. If an agency commissioned the research on behalf of another company, “Client” includes that company as well as the agency.
Motives is a trading name of BTRT Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company no. 14530951), 9th Floor, 107 Cheapside, London EC2V 6DN, for studies run for Clients outside the US, and of Motives Inc., a Delaware corporation, 1111B S Governors Ave #40281, Dover, DE 19904, for studies run for US Clients. In this policy, “Motives” means whichever of them runs your study.
Some studies don’t name the Client at the start, because knowing who it is could influence your answers. If this study doesn’t, we’ll tell you the type of business it is. You can ask us at privacy@motives.ai, and once the study has closed we’ll tell you which company commissioned it (and, if the Client agrees, any company it commissioned it for). In the meantime, contact us at that address with any questions about your data.
If the Client shares your data with agencies or advisers working for it on the research (“Client Agencies”), the Client is responsible for them and for making sure they protect it. Once shared, Motives does not control what Client Agencies do with it.
2. What We Collect
During your participation, we collect:
- Video and audio recording of your interview
- A transcript of the interview and your answers
- Your answers to the screening questions
- Your participant ID from the recruitment panel (for example, your Prolific ID)
- Demographic information the recruitment panel shares with us (for example, age range or country)
- Your email address or phone number, only if the study needs it to identify you or pay your incentive (for example, if the Client invited you directly)
We don’t ask you for sensitive information such as your health, ethnicity, religion or sexuality. Please avoid sharing it during the interview.
You don’t have to take part. To take part and be paid, you need to give us the information above, for example by keeping your camera and microphone on. If you don’t, we may not be able to include you in the study or pay your incentive. Answers to optional questions are voluntary.
3. How We Use Your Data
We use your data to:
- Run the AI-moderated interview
- Create transcripts and analyze responses
- Share interview recordings with the Client, and with Client Agencies working for it on the research, for review
- Make your data available to Client Agencies that the Client has engaged to help analyse or act on the research
- Check that the conditions for payment were met (for example, that your camera and microphone were on)
- Keep your interview in the Client’s research library on Motives, so the Client can use it in its future research as well as this study. If an agency commissioned the research for another company, we keep the interview for that company’s future research only
- Enforce the confidentiality terms you agreed to, if they are breached
4. AI Moderation
The AI interviewer is not a person. It asks follow-up questions based on your answers and guides the conversation.
Our technology providers are not allowed to use your data to train their AI models.
5. Who Sees Your Data
Shared with:
- The Client who commissioned the research (including your video, audio, and transcript)
- Agencies and advisers the Client has engaged to help it analyse or act on the research (“Client Agencies”). The Client decides who they are. They may see your video, audio and transcript only where needed for that work. They must keep your data confidential, use it only for this research, never use it to train AI models, and delete it when their work ends.
- Our authorized Motives staff who manage the research
- Our technology providers (listed at www.motives.ai/subprocessors)
- The recruitment panel you joined through (for example, Prolific), to manage your participation and payment. If you breach the confidentiality terms, the panel may tell us who you are so the Client and Motives can take action.
- Regulators, courts, or law enforcement, where the law requires it.
We never make your data public.
6. International Transfers
Your data may be processed outside the UK/EEA by our technology providers. When this happens, we protect your data using standard contractual clauses approved for this purpose (the EU Standard Contractual Clauses with the UK Addendum) or, for providers certified under it, the UK–US data bridge or the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.
Our providers are listed at www.motives.ai/subprocessors.
The Client and Client Agencies may be based outside the UK/EEA. The Client is responsible for putting safeguards in place for any transfer it makes.
You can ask for more information about these safeguards or get a copy of them, by emailing privacy@motives.ai. We will reply in one month.
7. How Long We Keep Your Data
How long we keep your data depends on how the company that commissioned the study (the “Client”) works with Motives:
- If the Client has a Motives subscription, we keep your data in the Client’s research library for as long as the subscription is active, so the Client can use it in its future research. When the subscription ends, we delete your data within 60 days.
- If the Client commissioned a one-off project, we keep your data for up to two years after the project is completed, so the Client can return to it for follow-up analysis. We then delete it within 60 days.
This applies to all the information described in section 2.
In both cases, the Client can ask us to delete your data sooner, and we keep it longer only if the law requires us to.
If you ask us to delete your data, we will pass your request to the Client, who is responsible for your data and decides how to respond. If the Client instructs us to delete it, we will delete your recording, transcript and answers from Motives within one month of that instruction. Findings already shared with the Client in anonymous, combined form can’t be withdrawn.
The Client is responsible for making sure Client Agencies also delete your data when the Client instructs it or when their work ends. Motives can only delete copies held on the Motives platform.
8. Your Rights
You have the right to:
- Access your personal data
- Correct inaccurate data
- Ask us to delete your data
- Restrict how we use your data
- Receive your data in a portable format
You also have the right to object to us using your data at any time. If you object, we will stop unless there is a strong reason to continue, such as defending a legal claim.
If you use your rights, the Client will also pass your request on to any Client Agencies that hold your data.
To use any of these rights, contact the Client who invited you or email us at privacy@motives.ai.
9. Legal Basis
We use your data because the Client has a legitimate interest in understanding what consumers think about its products and ideas, and Motives has a legitimate interest in running that research. This includes the Client’s legitimate interest in using agencies to help it analyse and act on the research. We only share what those agencies need. We have weighed these interests against yours: we only collect what the research needs, keep it secure, never make it public and delete it as described in Clause 7.
We also use your data to check that the conditions for payment were met and to enforce confidentiality terms. We do this because we and the Client have a legitimate interest in making sure incentives are paid fairly and in protecting confidential information and defending legal claims. We have weighed these interests against yours and only use the data needed for these purposes.
10. Complaints
If you have a concern, contact the Client or us at privacy@motives.ai. You can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk).
If you live in the EU, you can also complain to the local data protection authority in your country.
11. Contact Us
For questions or requests:
Email: privacy@motives.ai
Address:
BTRT Ltd (for customers outside the US), 9th Floor, 107 Cheapside, London EC2V 6DN - Company Number: 14530951
Motives Inc (for US customers), 1111B S Governors Ave #40281 Dover, DE 19904 - Delaware Corporation
