Uplifton Community Privacy Policy

Last Update: 1 February, 2024

Welcome to Uplifton Community, a social platform where individuals, businesses, and companies can connect, share, and uplift each other. This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, use, and protect your information when you use our website and services. By accessing or using Uplifton Community, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

Information We Collect:

To personalize your experience and ensure the smooth operation of Uplifton Community, we collect various types of information, categorized as follows:

- Personal: When you create a profile, we collect basic information like your name, email address, username, and password.
- Profile Details: Depending on your profile type (Personal, Business, or Company), we collect additional details specific to your profile:
  - Personal Profiles: Profile picture, bio, location (city and state, optional), date of birth (optional), interests, and skills, etc.
  - Business Profiles: Founded date, company website, team member profiles (limited information like name and title), industry, and business description, etc.
  - Company Profiles: Year founded, number of employees, company website, size (revenue range), and company description, etc.
b. Activity Information:
- Content Creation: The content you create and share on our platform, including posts, comments, replies, topics, forum discussions, group discussions, and event details.
- Interactions: Your interactions with other users, such as friend requests, sent and received messages, group memberships, and event participation.
- Engagement: How you engage with content, such as likes, shares, saves, clicks on advertisements, and time spent on different sections of the platform.
- Verification: If you choose to become verified, we may collect additional information to verify your identity, such as government-issued ID or documentation for your business or company.
c. Device Information:
- Technical Data: Information about the device you use to access our platform, including operating system, browser type, IP address, device identifier, and language settings.
- Usage Data: Information about how you use our platform, such as access times, pages visited, features used, and errors encountered.
d. Log Data:
- Server Logs: When you access our platform, our servers automatically record information about your activity, including IP address, access time, browser type, and the pages you visit.
- Cookies and Similar Technologies: We use cookies and similar technologies to collect information about your browsing activity and preferences. You can control your cookie settings through your browser preferences.
e. Additional Information:
- Payment Information: If you purchase a paid plan or use our payment processing services, we collect your payment information, such as credit card number and billing address.
- Support Interactions: When you contact our support team, we may collect the content of your communication and any information you provide to help us resolve your issue.
- Polls: If you participate in polls, we may collect the information you provide.

How We Use Your Information:

At Uplifton Community, we are committed to using the information we collect in a transparent and responsible manner. The data we gather is utilized to provide, improve, and personalize our services, as well as to enhance your overall experience within the community. Here’s a breakdown of how we leverage your data:

a. Account Management and Personalization:

Provide and improve core functionalities: We use your account information to create and manage your profile, connect you with other users, and deliver relevant content based on your interests and profile details.
Personalize your experience: We analyze your activity and preferences to suggest relevant groups, topics, events, and advertisements. This customization aims to enhance your engagement and overall satisfaction.
Ensure smooth operation: We utilize device and usage data to diagnose technical issues, improve platform performance, and prevent fraudulent activity.

b. Profile Information:

Personal user profiles are used to connect like-minded individuals, facilitate social interactions, and customize content recommendations.
Business and Company profiles are utilized to showcase relevant information, fostering professional connections and interactions within the business community.

c. Group and Forum Activities:

Information related to group memberships, forum participation, and subscribed topics is used to tailor content recommendations, notifications, and community engagement features.
Group and forum activities contribute to the overall community experience, promoting discussions and collaboration.

d. Communication and User Interaction:

Send notifications: We send account-related notifications, such as password resets, friend requests, group updates, and event reminders. You can manage your notification preferences.
Facilitate communication: We enable messaging between connected users and group chat functionalities. Your profile information helps identify participants and personalize communication channels.
Support interactions: We use the content of your support requests and provided information to address your concerns and improve our support services.

e. Ad Placement Information:

Data related to ad creation is used to display advertisements as per user preferences and to enhance the overall advertising experience.
Pioneer and Forge plan users benefit from advanced ad features, including Feed Ads, Target Audience, calls to action, etc. enhancing their marketing capabilities.

f. Content Moderation and Community Safety:

Maintain a safe and positive environment: We analyze content and activity to identify and remove harmful or inappropriate content, ensuring a safe and respectful space for all users.
Enforce our terms of service: We utilize collected information to ensure compliance with our platform’s terms of service and prevent misuse.
Verify user identities: Verification badges enhance trust and credibility within the community. We use collected information to validate verification requests.

g. Marketing and Advertising:

Deliver targeted advertisements: We may use your interests and activity data to show you relevant advertisements within the platform, offered by third-party companies.
Promote Uplifton Community: We may use your contact information to send occasional promotional emails about our platform, new features, and updates. You can unsubscribe from these emails at any time.

h. Compliance and Legal Obligations:

Protect our rights and interests: We may use your information to investigate and defend against potential legal claims or protect our rights and the rights of others.

i. Settings and Preferences:

Your account settings, privacy preferences, and notification preferences are respected to provide a personalized and user-friendly experience.

j. Research and Development:

Improve our platform: We may use anonymized and aggregated data for research and development purposes to enhance the functionality and user experience of Uplifton Community.
Develop new features: We may use collected data to understand user needs and preferences, guiding the development of new features and functionalities.

Sharing Your Information:

At Uplifton Community, we value your privacy, and we are committed to being transparent about how and when your information is shared. Your data is treated with the utmost respect, and we take measures to ensure that it is only shared in ways that enhance your experience on our platform. Here’s how we may share your information:

a. Public Information:

Profile and Content: Information you choose to make public on your profile, groups, forums, or any other public areas of the platform becomes accessible to all users. This includes your profile picture, bio, posts, comments, forum discussions, etc.
Activity Summary: Your basic activity, such as joining a group, becoming friends, creating a topic, etc. may be visible to other users on a limited basis, depending on your privacy settings.

b. Group and Forum Activities:

Content you create in groups and forums is visible to other members of those groups and forums, fostering discussions and collaboration.

c. Friendship and Communication:

Information related to your friends, including friend lists, is shared within the platform to enable seamless communication and social engagement.

d. Ad Placement:

Advertisements placed by users, especially those on Pioneer and Forge plans, may be visible to other users based on targeting criteria.

e. Third-Party Service Providers:

Platform Operation: We may share limited information with trusted third-party service providers who help us operate our platform, such as hosting providers, payment processors, security providers, etc. These providers are contractually obligated to protect your information and use it only for the purposes we authorize.
Analytics and Advertising: We may share anonymized and aggregated data with analytics and advertising partners to understand user behavior and trends and deliver targeted advertising on our platform.

f. Legal Compliance and Security:

We may share your information to comply with legal obligations, respond to legal requests, or protect our rights, privacy, safety, or property.

g. Other Sharing Scenarios:

Group Administration: Group admins may have access to certain information about group members, such as their names and profile pictures.
User-Initiated Sharing: When you use features like sharing posts or messages, the information you share will be accessible to the intended recipients.

Your Choices:

At Uplifton Community, we empower you to control your information and personalize your experience. Here’s a breakdown of your key choices regarding your data:

a. Profile Information:

You have the option to customize and update your profile information at any time. Feel free to add or modify details based on your preferences.

b. Communication Preferences:

You can manage your communication preferences, including notifications for friend requests, messages, and group invitations.
Opt-out options for promotional emails and newsletters are provided in your account settings.
Block Users: Block specific users from contacting you or seeing your profile. This helps manage unwanted interactions.
Mute Groups: Mute notifications from specific groups you join to reduce unwanted communication.

c. Group Memberships:

You have the choice to join or leave groups at any time. Group memberships and participation are entirely voluntary.

d. Additional Choices:

Verification: Choose to apply for verification to showcase your authenticity and credibility as an individual, business, or company.
Badges and Quests: Participate in activities to earn badges and complete quests, enhancing your profile and engagement within the community.
Friend Management: Decide who you connect with by sending and accepting friend requests. Manage your existing connections and remove unwanted contacts.
Group Participation: Choose which groups to join and actively participate in discussions. You can also create your own groups to foster specific interests or communities.

e. Account Management:

Deactivate Account: Deactivate your account temporarily to hide your profile and activity from other users.
Delete Account: Permanently delete your account and all associated information. Remember, this action is irreversible.

Data Security:

Protecting your information is our top priority at Uplifton Community. We implement robust security measures to safeguard your data from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. Here’s an overview of our security practices:

a. Physical and Administrative Safeguards:

Data centers: We store your information in secure data centers with restricted physical access and advanced security protocols.
Access controls: Only authorized personnel have access to your information, and their access is subject to strict controls and logging.
Regular security audits: We conduct regular internal and external security audits to identify and address potential vulnerabilities.
Data encryption: Your information is encrypted both in transit and at rest, adding an extra layer of protection.

b. Technical Safeguards:

Secure connections: We use HTTPS encryption to secure all communication between your device and our platform.
Password security: We enforce strong password requirements and encourage the use of two-factor authentication for added protection.
Regular software updates: We keep our platform and systems updated with the latest security patches to address known vulnerabilities.
Intrusion detection and prevention: We employ advanced security systems to detect and prevent unauthorized access attempts.
Incident response plan: We have a comprehensive incident response plan in place to address any potential security breaches promptly and effectively.

c. Transparency and Communication:

We are committed to being transparent about our data security practices.
If a security incident occurs that affects your information, we will notify you promptly and take appropriate steps to mitigate the risk.
We encourage you to report any suspicious activity to our security team so we can investigate and take action.

Third-Party Links:

Uplifton Community may contain links to websites and services operated by third parties. Clicking on a third-party link will take you away from our platform and onto the linked website. Please note that we are not responsible for the content, privacy practices, or security of any third-party website. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of any website you visit before you share any personal information.

Here are some additional things to keep in mind regarding third-party links on Uplifton Community:

Sponsored Content: Some third-party links may be sponsored content, meaning the advertiser pays to have their link displayed on our platform. We will clearly label sponsored content as such.
User-Generated Content: Users may also share links to third-party websites in their posts, comments, or messages. We have no control over the content of these links and do not endorse or recommend them.
Advertising: Third-party advertising companies may place ads on our platform. These ads may link to third-party websites. We do not control the content of these ads or the websites they link to.

a. Tips for Staying Safe with Third-Party Links:

Be cautious about clicking on links from unknown sources.
Hover over the link to see where it really leads before you click.
Only share personal information on websites you trust.
Be aware of phishing scams that may try to trick you into giving up your personal information.
Report any suspicious links to our support team.

Children's Privacy:

Uplifton Community is designed for a general audience and is not intended for use by individuals under the age of 13. We are committed to protecting the privacy of children and complying with applicable laws, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in the United States. The following points outline our approach to children’s privacy:

a. Age Requirement:

Uplifton Community is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under this age. If you are under 13, please do not use or provide any information on our platform.

b. Parental Consent:

If we learn that we have inadvertently collected personal information from a child under 13, we will take reasonable steps to obtain parental consent or promptly delete the information.

c. Parental Involvement:

We encourage parents and guardians to be actively involved in their children’s online activities and to guide them on the responsible use of digital platforms.

d. Information Collection:

Uplifton Community does not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 13 without parental consent, we will take steps to delete that information.

e. Educational Content:

While Uplifton Community may contain content that is suitable for a broad audience, including teenagers, it is not intended for individuals under the age of 13.

f. Reporting:

If you believe a child under 13 is using Uplifton Community, please report it to us immediately. We will take immediate action to remove their account and any associated information.

It is important to:

Talk to your children about the importance of online privacy and safety.
Teach them not to share personal information with strangers online.
Monitor their online activity and ensure they are using age-appropriate websites and platforms.

We take the safety of children seriously and are committed to providing a safe and secure environment for our users. If you have any questions or concerns about children’s privacy on Uplifton Community, please don’t hesitate to contact our support team.

Changes to this Policy

At Uplifton Community, we strive to be transparent and keep you informed about any changes to our data practices. This section outlines how we handle updates to our Privacy Policy:

a. Updates and Last Update Date:

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, applicable laws, or technology.
The Last Update date of any changes will be clearly stated at the top of the policy.
We encourage you to regularly review this policy to stay informed about our data practices.

b. Notification of Changes:

We will notify you of any material changes to this Privacy Policy through various methods, depending on the significance of the changes:
- For significant changes: We will send you an email notification to the address associated with your account.
- For minor changes: We may update the “Last Updated” date at the top of the policy or post a notice on our platform.

c. Your Consent:

By continuing to use Uplifton Community after changes are made to this Privacy Policy, you agree to be bound by the revised terms.
If you do not agree to the revised terms, you can deactivate or delete your account.

Contact Us:

If you have any questions, concerns, or feedback regarding our Privacy Policy or the practices of Uplifton Community, we encourage you to reach out to us. Your communication is important to us, and we are here to provide assistance and address any inquiries you may have.

Feedback and Suggestions:

We welcome your feedback and suggestions on how we can improve Uplifton Community. If you have ideas for new features, concerns, or general comments, please feel free to share them with us.