Effective date: August 1, 2026. Last updated: August 1, 2026.
1. The firewall principle
"Sponsors purchase visibility. Never findings."
All sponsorship and advertising arrangements are governed by a strict editorial firewall. No commercial arrangement grants any influence over PRIME scores, rankings, tiers, eligibility decisions, or editorial findings. This separation is enforced structurally and is described further in our Editorial Policy.
2. What commercial arrangements provide
Commercial arrangements provide visibility and presence: directory presence, profile visibility, showcase placements, and sponsored brief placements within our publishing channels. They do not provide, and cannot be used to obtain, editorial treatment, a ranking position, a score, a tier, or an eligibility outcome.
3. Disclosure and labeling
Any sponsored or commercial placement is clearly and prominently labeled to distinguish it from editorial intelligence, consistent with recognized advertising disclosure standards. The two produced placement formats, vendor Showcases and sponsored articles through PTM Brief, carry the standardized disclosure band at the top of every placement, naming the format as paid and, for sponsored articles, the sponsor. A sponsored article cannot be published without a named sponsor, and the band cannot be removed by omitting a field. Commercial profile content never appears within editorial intelligence panels, and no paid placement appears on methodology or ranking pages.
4. Prohibited arrangements
We will not accept any arrangement that requests, implies, or conditions editorial treatment on commercial payment. Any such request will be declined and logged. We reserve the right to decline or remove any placement.
5. Approval and standards
Commercial placements are reviewed against these standards. We may require changes to, or decline, a placement that:
- is false, misleading, or unsubstantiated;
- states or implies that the placement affects, reflects, or was rewarded with a PRIME score, rank, tier, or eligibility outcome;
- uses a PRIME mark, ranking, or score other than as we permit in writing;
- disparages an identified competitor without substantiation;
- is unlawful, infringes a third-party right, or breaches applicable advertising law;
- is presented in a way likely to be mistaken for editorial content;
- falls in a category we do not accept, including securities offerings directed at retail investors, or any product or service we judge inconsistent with the standing of the publication.
We may decline or remove any placement and may end a commercial relationship at our discretion. Fees for a placement removed for breach of these standards are not refundable.
6. Independence of the directory and rankings
Presence in the PTM Directory is a commercial relationship. Claimed and verified statuses are not.
A company earns a claimed status when a representative verifies control of the company's profile, and earns active and verified statuses by completing the steps we publish. These statuses are free, they are earned, and they are never sold. No payment accelerates them and no payment is required to reach them.
One commercial badge exists. PTM Sponsor denotes a Strategic Partner relationship and denotes nothing else. It is purchased, it is disclosed as purchased, and it carries no editorial meaning. The former PTM Verified and PTM Partner commercial badges are retired and are no longer issued or licensed.
No status, badge, or directory tier is an input to scoring, ranking, tier assignment, or eligibility, and none appears in the dossier or evidence layers. PRIME marks are awarded by methodology and cannot be bought.
7. Enquiries
For advertising and sponsorship enquiries, see the commercial pages or contact Bianca Ford at bianca.ford@securitytechx.com.