Our commitments to you
UAN World protects confidential sources legally, operationally, and editorially. These are the commitments we make to anyone who reaches out through our secure channels.
We will not pay you.
We do not pay sources for information, ever. If anyone claiming to represent UAN World offers you money for information, they are not us — report it to legal@uanworld.com.
We will not reveal your identity
to anyone outside the small number of editors who need to know in order to publish responsibly. We do not share source identities with advertisers, sponsors, investors, governments, partner publications, or law enforcement.
We will resist legal demands
for your identity, including subpoenas, court orders, and informal pressure — through counsel, publicly where appropriate, and at institutional cost to UAN World. Stated in our Editorial Standards, Section 3.
We will verify
what you tell us before we publish. We protect you by reporting carefully, not by publishing recklessly. A source who is later contradicted by the public record is exposed. We will work with you, not around you, to confirm details before they reach print.
We will tell you
before we publish anything based on your contribution, where we can do so safely. You can change your mind about being identified up to the moment of publication. After publication, the record exists.
We will keep records minimal.
Source-protected communications are not logged in our standard editorial systems. We retain only what is necessary, for the shortest time we can, in the most protected places we have.
What we cannot promise
We cannot promise perfect anonymity. No newsroom anywhere can. We can promise to do everything legally, operationally, and editorially possible to protect you — and to be honest about what those things are.
Specifically:
- Email is not secure. Standard email passes through multiple servers, can be subpoenaed from any of them, and reveals metadata (who, when, how often) even when the content is encrypted. We do not recommend email for sensitive material. Use the secure channels below.
- Devices can be compromised. If your phone or laptop is monitored — by an employer, a state actor, or malware — we cannot detect that from our end. Operational security starts on your device, before you contact us.
- Your identity may be inferable. Some information is so specific that publishing it identifies the only person who could have provided it. We will discuss this risk with you before we publish, but we cannot eliminate it.
- Legal regimes vary. UAN World operates across multiple jurisdictions. The protections available to you depend on where you are, where we publish, and where the information concerns. We will tell you what we know about the legal landscape for your situation; we are not your lawyer.
- Mistakes happen. Newsrooms make errors. We have policies, training, and audit logs designed to prevent source compromise — but we do not pretend that the probability is zero. If we make a mistake that affects you, you will hear about it from us, not from someone else.
We tell you this not to discourage you. We tell you this because a source who understands the real risks makes safer choices than one who has been promised something we cannot deliver.
Secure submission channels
Use one of these channels instead of standard email or the public submission portal for any material whose publication could put you at risk.
SignalDefault for sensitive contact
Signal is an end-to-end encrypted messaging app available for iOS, Android, and desktop. Conversations are encrypted on your device and on ours. Signal collects minimal metadata.
Our Signal number: To be published at public launch. The number will be displayed on this page, never inside an article or social post that could be retroactively edited.
Before you contact us on Signal:
- Use a phone, account, and device that are not connected to the subject of your information.
- Enable disappearing messages in our conversation (we will do the same).
- Do not save our contact under an identifying name on your phone.
- Verify the safety number when you first connect.
Signal is our recommended starting point for nearly all sensitive contact.
Anonymous contributor portalWhen you do not want to identify yourself even to us
Our anonymous contributor portal accepts submissions without collecting your identity. You do not need an account, a name, or an email. We will not see your IP address, your device, or any identifying metadata beyond what you yourself choose to include in your submission.
Portal URL: uanworld.com/submit-anonymous — launching with the Contributor Intake release.
If we publish based on material you submit, we will publish a note inside the story explaining that the source is anonymous, why, and what category they are (e.g. "a person with direct knowledge of the matter"). We will not invent attribution.
Use this channel when you want to share information one-way, without follow-up, and without ever revealing yourself to us.
Encrypted Telegram tip-lineFor fast contact from sensitive environments
For sources in environments where Signal is blocked, where Telegram is more available, or where speed matters more than the strongest protection — we operate an encrypted Telegram tip-line. Telegram is not as strong as Signal but is meaningfully better than email.
Our Telegram tip-line: To be published at public launch — handle will be displayed on this page.
Use a Telegram account that is not connected to your real identity. Telegram requires a phone number to register; consider using a separate, anonymous SIM rather than your primary number.
Postal mailFor documents that should not move over the wire at all
For physical documents, recordings on media, or anything that should never travel through electronic systems we control, send postal mail.
Postal address for sensitive material: To be confirmed at public launch.
Mail addressed to "Source Protection — UAN World" is opened by a designated editor only and is not entered into any electronic system unless you have asked us to digitise it.
If you send postal mail: do not use a return address that identifies you. Drop the envelope at a postbox away from where you live or work. Postal services in some countries log and inspect mail; consider the risk profile of your jurisdiction.
What happens to your information
When you submit material through a secure channel:
- Receipt. Your submission is received by a designated member of the source-protection team. It is not entered into our standard editorial pipeline. AI-assisted screening is not run on source-protected material by default; we make exceptions only with the source's knowledge and consent.
- Compartmentation. Knowledge of your identity is restricted to the smallest possible group of editors — typically one or two — who need to know in order to verify, report, and publish responsibly. Other reporters and editors who work on the story know only what we choose to tell them.
- Verification. We verify what you have told us through independent reporting, document analysis, and corroborating sources where available. We do not publish based on a single source unless there is no other way to publish the story and the public interest justifies it.
- Editorial decision. A Senior Editor decides whether to publish, what to publish, and how to attribute. We will discuss attribution options with you wherever possible.
- Publication. If we publish, we tell you in advance where we can do so safely. After publication, we monitor for response, threats, or fallout that may affect your safety.
- Retention. We retain source-protected records for the minimum time required by our editorial obligations and applicable law. Records of source identity are stored separately from our editorial systems, in encrypted form, with access logged and audited.
- Destruction. When source records are no longer needed for editorial or legal purposes, they are securely destroyed. We do not retain source identities indefinitely.
When we receive legal demands for source information
We have stated, as part of our Editorial Standards and as part of this commitment, that we will resist legal demands for confidential source information. Specifically:
- We do not comply with informal requests. Emails, phone calls, or pressure from individuals, employers, agencies, or governments asking us to identify a source are not actioned. We do not respond to them with information.
- We respond to properly served legal process through counsel. Subpoenas, court orders, and similar instruments are routed to legal@uanworld.com and handled by counsel. We will not provide source information in response to legal demands except where ordered by a court of competent jurisdiction whose ruling has been exhausted on appeal.
- We will publicise legal demands for source information where we are legally able to do so, including the existence of gag orders if and when those orders are lifted. Transparency is itself a protection.
- We are prepared to bear cost. Resisting legal demands has financial, operational, and reputational cost. We have committed in our Editorial Standards to bear that cost rather than identify confidential sources.
- We will tell you if we receive a legal demand concerning your contribution, where we are legally permitted to do so. Where a gag order prevents us from telling you, we will tell you the moment we can.
Important honesty: No newsroom can guarantee successful resistance to every legal order. We can guarantee the policy, the legal defence, and the institutional posture. We cannot guarantee that a future court in a future jurisdiction will not rule against us. This is part of why our first layer of protection is operational — minimising what we hold, what we know, and what can be compelled.
Before you contact us — operational security on your end
Most source compromise happens on the source's side, not the newsroom's. The steps you take before contacting us matter more than anything we can do after you do.
Use a device the subject of your information cannot monitor.
If you suspect your work laptop, work phone, or personal devices may be monitored by your employer, a state actor, or a partner — do not use them. A cheap second-hand phone with a prepaid SIM, used on public Wi-Fi away from your home and workplace, is dramatically safer than your everyday device.
Use a network you cannot be associated with.
Public Wi-Fi (a coffee shop you do not normally visit, in a neighbourhood you do not work in) is safer than your home or office network for sensitive first contact.
Do not search for our contact details from devices or networks that could be traced.
Searching "how to leak to UAN World" on your employer's network leaves a record. Find this page once from a safer device and screenshot what you need.
Strip metadata from documents and images.
Documents (Word, PDF) carry author names, computer names, edit history. Photos carry GPS coordinates and device serial numbers. Tools like ExifTool, or simply taking a fresh photo of a printed document, remove most of this. We will help you with this if you reach us first.
Do not test by sending us small things first.
Repeated contact creates a pattern. Establishing a "test" channel before sending what you intend to send doubles your exposure.
Compartmentalise.
Do not discuss your contact with us with anyone. Not your spouse, not your best friend, not your therapist (unless you understand the legal protections for that conversation in your jurisdiction). The fewer people who know, the safer you are.
Plan for after.
Think about what happens if your contribution becomes public. Will you be a suspect because of who you are, where you sat, or what you had access to? If the answer is yes, plan accordingly — and tell us, so we can discuss attribution options that reduce the risk.
Trust your judgement about your own context.
We can advise on general operational security. You know your employer, your country, your relationships, and your specific risks better than we do. If something feels wrong, stop, get to a safer position, and reach out later.
What kinds of information we are interested in
Material we take seriously
- Documented evidence of wrongdoing by governments, corporations, institutions, or individuals in positions of power.
- Patterns of fraud, corruption, abuse, or coverup that affect the public.
- Public-safety information that is being suppressed.
- Internal communications, documents, or recordings that contradict the public record.
- Financial misconduct, illicit financial flows, sanctions evasion, illicit procurement.
- Abuses of power by security forces, intelligence services, or judicial systems.
- Suppression of press freedom, civic space, or political opposition.
- Environmental, public health, and consumer-safety information that is being concealed.
Material we do not pursue
- Personal disputes, grievances, or revenge motivations dressed as public-interest stories.
- Material whose only newsworthiness is the embarrassment of a private individual.
- Stolen material whose publication would not serve the public interest.
- Material whose publication would identify a different protected source.
- Speculation, rumour, or unsupported allegations.
- Material we suspect was obtained through methods that would put a future source at legal risk to repeat.
If you are not sure whether what you have falls into the first category, contact us through a secure channel and ask. We will tell you straight.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to know whether what I have is "important enough" to share?
No. If you are not sure whether your information is significant, share it through a secure channel and let us assess. We will tell you honestly. Many of the most important stories begin with sources who underestimated what they knew.
What if I don't have documents, just knowledge?
Knowledge is a valid starting point. We will discuss with you how to corroborate what you know — sometimes through documents you can later access, sometimes through other sources, sometimes through reporting that doesn't require you to produce evidence. Talk to us.
Can I share material that I obtained illegally?
We make case-by-case decisions about material obtained through methods that may have been unlawful. Public-interest journalism has historically depended on material that was not freely available. We will discuss the implications with you before you transmit. We will not publish material whose obtaining caused disproportionate harm.
What if I want to remain anonymous to UAN World itself?
Use the anonymous contributor portal. We will receive your material without ever knowing who you are. You will not be able to follow up, and we will not be able to verify with you, but you will have transmitted what you know.
What if I want to be named in the story?
We will discuss it with you. Some stories are stronger with named sources; some sources prefer to be on the record. We will not name you without your explicit consent.
What happens if I change my mind after I contact you?
Up to the moment of publication, you can withdraw. After publication, the record exists. Tell us as early as you can.
Can I contact you from a country where press freedom is restricted?
Yes. Many of the sources we most need to hear from are in exactly those countries. We have channels designed for this. Read the operational security section above carefully, and use Signal or the anonymous portal.
Do you share material with other newsrooms?
Only with your consent, and only with newsrooms we have collaboration agreements with that bind them to our source-protection standards. We will tell you before any sharing.
Will UAN World pay my legal fees if I am identified or pursued?
We are working toward a documented legal-defence fund for sources. As of this version of the policy, we do not have a formal program that guarantees legal fee coverage. We do commit to: making introductions to press-freedom legal organisations (CPJ, Reporters Without Borders, regional partners), providing testimony or documentation in support of your defence where useful, and publicising your case to mobilise external legal support. We will update this page when our internal program is formalised.
What if the story you publish doesn't go the way I expected?
We will discuss editorial direction with you in advance where possible. Final editorial judgment rests with UAN World. We will not publish in a way we believe puts you at additional risk beyond the unavoidable risk of publication itself.
Contact
For source protection enquiries and sensitive contact, use the secure channels above. For administrative questions about this policy:
- General enquiries: info@uanworld.com — do not send sensitive material to this address.
- Legal demands, subpoenas, service of process: legal@uanworld.com
- Source-protection failures (including yourself): corrections@uanworld.com
Version History
| Version | Date | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 2026-05-12 | First public-launch edition of UAN World Source Protection Statement. |
This statement is a public commitment, not a marketing document. We will update this page when our practices change, when the regulatory environment changes, or when we learn we can do better. If you believe we have failed a source — including yourself — write to corrections@uanworld.com and we will investigate publicly.