Privacy Policy

Your privacy matters. This policy explains how Newsbly collects, uses, and protects your data.

1. Information We Collect

Account information: When you register, we collect your username, email address, and password (stored as a secure hash — we never store your plain-text password).

Profile information: Display name, bio, location, website, and profile photo — all optional and controlled by you.

Usage data: Articles you view, channels you follow, categories you read, and your interactions (likes, comments, bookmarks). This is used to personalize your news feed.

Technical data: IP address, browser type, and device information when you log in. This is used for security and session management.

2. How We Use Your Information

• Personalization: Your reading history helps us surface relevant articles and recommendations
• Security: Login history and IP addresses help detect unauthorized access
• Communication: We may send service notifications (new follower, reply to your comment)
• Improvement: Aggregated, anonymized usage data helps us improve the platform

3. Information We Do NOT Collect or Do

• We do not sell your personal data to third parties
• We do not use your data for external advertising
• We do not track you across other websites
• We do not share your email address with third parties

4. Cookies & Local Storage

We use cookies and browser local storage to keep you logged in, remember your theme preference, and maintain your session. These are essential for the service to work correctly. No third-party tracking cookies are used.

5. Data Sharing

We only share data in the following limited circumstances:

• Public profile: Your username, profile photo, bio, and public activity (comments, follows) are visible to other users according to your privacy settings
• Legal requirements: We may disclose data if required by law or to protect the safety of users
• Service providers: Minimal data may be processed by trusted infrastructure providers (hosting, CDN) subject to data protection agreements

6. Your Privacy Controls

You have full control over your data. In your Privacy Settings you can control:

• Who can view your profile (Everyone / Followers only / Nobody)
• Who can send you direct messages
• Whether your following list is visible
• Whether your liked articles are visible

7. Data Retention

We retain your data for as long as your account is active. Login history logs are automatically pruned to the last 20 entries. If you delete your account, your personal data is removed within 30 days, though some anonymized activity data may remain in aggregate statistics.

8. Security

We use industry-standard security measures including:

• Bcrypt password hashing (passwords are never stored in plain text)
• CSRF token protection on all forms
• HTTP-only session cookies
• Rate limiting on login and registration to prevent brute force attacks
• HTTPS encryption for data in transit

9. Children's Privacy

Newsbly is not intended for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected such data, we will delete it promptly.

10. Account Deletion

You can request account deletion at any time through your settings page. Upon deletion, your profile, posts, and personal data will be permanently removed from our systems.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically. We will notify you of material changes by posting an updated version on this page with a new date. Continued use of the Service after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

12. Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, please contact us through the platform's feedback options.