KTVU Fox 2 August 2026 Media Response

We welcome media inquiries and believe transparency and open conversation leads to better public understanding of how our technology works. Below is our record of this inquiry, the questions we received, our responses, and a quick fact check of the published article as it relates to Patronscan.

Questions & Responses

Questions are listed as received. Our responses below are the complete, unedited text of what we submitted.

Question:

I’m Betty Yu, a reporter with KTVU FOX 2 in San Francisco. I’m working on a story for our 10 pm show about the decision by Badlands and Toad Hall to pause their use of PatronScan following concerns raised by community members and privacy advocates. 

We’d like to speak with a representative from PatronScan about the decision. We’re also hoping you can clarify a few points for our reporting: 

• Can you confirm which venues in San Francisco currently use PatronScan? 
• Have any other San Francisco venues recently stopped or paused use of the system? 
• What information does PatronScan collect and retain, and for how long? 
• How do you respond to privacy concerns raised by patrons and advocacy groups? 

Our Response: 

Thank you for reaching out on this.  

We have appreciated the chance to engage in many productive, positive conversations with the community and our clients in San Francisco, provide additional information on how Patronscan works, and reassure people on the limited use and retention of any information in our system. 

We’re aware of the pause on these accounts and have been in contact with the venues to offer our support in providing whatever information or adjustments they need as they work through a review of their security practices. We respect their decision to complete this review and look forward to hearing how we can help. 

We understand why people have concerns about technology and privacy; those are important conversations worth having and we are always glad to be part of them and share accurate information about how our service works. We take our responsibility very seriously in making sure that our product is used ethically and in accordance with all privacy and data protection legislation.  

The most persistent misconception in recent coverage is that Patronscan is a facial recognition system or that we collect biometric data. Neither is true for our North American product. We also do not sell personal information to third parties, and we do not have a permanent database of patron information; all personal information not attached to a Flagged incident is deleted in accordance with local privacy legislation and data retention allowances. For our bar & nightclub clients in California, this is set to a maximum of 21 days. 

We have detailed information available at www.patronscan.com/privacy, including clear outlines of what data is collected, how long it is stored, who has access, and how it is protected. 

If it’s helpful for you, we’ve also previously published our response to community questions and local media coverage in San Francisco so that there’s additional context available to anyone who wants it: https://patronscan.com/articles/lets-clear-a-few-things-up-how-patronscan-actually-works/  

Fact Check

The resulting article from this inquiry was published on August 11, 2026. The following Fact Check is only relating to statements directly relating to Patronscan, our technology or our operations. We’re not commenting on the broader article, its sources, or unrelated claims.

We understand that news reporting is a challenge of gathering and presenting a large amount of information in a short, readable format. We publish all media responses here so you can read exactly what we said, in full. We believe open, fact-based conversation is the best way to promote understanding of our technology and the role it plays in venue safety. If you have questions or would like to speak with us directly, we’d love to hear from you at media@patronscan.com.