Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy explains how KenoChat (“KenoChat,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, discloses, and safeguards your personal data when you use our forum and discussion platform, including our website, applications, and related services (collectively, the “Service”).

We designed this policy to meet the requirements of the EU/UK General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (“CCPA/CPRA”), the Brazilian Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados (“LGPD”), Canada’s PIPEDA, and other applicable data protection laws. By using the Service, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.

2. Who We Are — Data Controller

KenoChat is the data controller responsible for your personal data under this Privacy Policy. If you have any questions or requests regarding your data, you can reach our privacy team at support@kenochat.com. If you are located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland and are unable to resolve a concern directly with us, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

3. Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of information:

• Account information: username, email address, password (stored as a salted hash), profile picture, bio, and other information you add to your profile.
• Content you provide: posts, comments, forum topics, messages, bookmarks, reactions, and any files or images you upload.
• Usage data: pages viewed, features used, links clicked, badges earned, reputation and leaderboard activity, and timestamps of these actions.
• Device and technical data: IP address, browser type and version, operating system, device identifiers, referring URLs, and general location derived from your IP address.
• Cookies and similar technologies: session identifiers, authentication tokens, and preference cookies, as described in Section 8.
• Communications: messages you send to other users through the Service, and correspondence you send directly to us (e.g., support requests).

We do not knowingly collect special categories of data (such as health, biometric, or genetic data) unless you voluntarily include it in content you post, in which case it is subject to your own visibility choices and this Policy.

4. How We Use Your Information

We use personal data for the following purposes and legal bases (GDPR Art. 6):

• To provide the Service — creating and maintaining your account, displaying your content, enabling messaging and forum participation. Legal basis: performance of a contract.
• To maintain safety and integrity — detecting fraud, abuse, spam, and violations of our Terms of Use; content moderation. Legal basis: legitimate interests.
• To improve the Service — analyzing usage trends, debugging, and developing new features. Legal basis: legitimate interests.
• To communicate with you — service announcements, security alerts, and, where you have opted in, product updates. Legal basis: contract / consent for marketing communications.
• To comply with legal obligations — responding to lawful requests from public authorities, tax and accounting requirements. Legal basis: legal obligation.

We do not sell your personal data, and we do not use your content to train third-party generative AI models without your consent.

5. Sharing and Disclosure of Information

We may share personal data with:

• Other users: your profile information and posted content are visible to other users according to your privacy and visibility settings.
• Service providers: hosting providers, cloud infrastructure, email delivery, analytics, and customer support tooling, bound by contractual confidentiality and data processing obligations.
• Legal and safety disclosures: where required to comply with applicable law, enforce our Terms of Use, or protect the rights, property, or safety of KenoChat, our users, or the public.
• Business transfers: in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets, subject to standard confidentiality arrangements.

We do not sell or rent your personal data to third parties for their marketing purposes.

6. International Data Transfers

KenoChat may process and store data in countries other than your own. Where we transfer personal data out of the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we rely on adequacy decisions or appropriate safeguards such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses, and we take supplementary measures where required to ensure your data receives an equivalent level of protection.

7. Data Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this Policy, including satisfying legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. When you delete your account, we delete or anonymize your personal data within 30 days, except where we are required or permitted to retain it longer (for example, content already shared publicly and re-shared by others, fraud-prevention records, or legal holds).

8. Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies for:

• Strictly necessary cookies — authentication and session security. These cannot be disabled without breaking core functionality.
• Preference cookies — remembering settings such as theme.
• Analytics cookies — understanding aggregate usage, deployed only with your consent where required by law (e.g., under the EU ePrivacy Directive).

You can control or delete cookies through your browser settings. Where consent is legally required, we will ask for it before setting non-essential cookies.

9. Your Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have some or all of the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Access — obtain a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Rectification — correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Erasure — request deletion of your personal data (“right to be forgotten”).
• Restriction — limit how we use your data in certain circumstances.
• Portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Objection — object to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing.
• Withdraw consent — where processing is based on consent, at any time, without affecting prior lawful processing.
• Non-discrimination — (California residents) we will not deny you goods or services, charge different prices, or provide a different level of service because you exercised your privacy rights.
• Opt out of “sharing”/“sale” — (California residents under CPRA) we do not sell or share personal data as defined by the CCPA/CPRA, so no opt-out mechanism is required, but you may still contact us with questions.
• Lodge a complaint — with your local supervisory authority (EEA/ UK) or state attorney general/regulator.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at support@kenochat.com. We will verify your request and respond within the timeframe required by applicable law (e.g., 30 days under GDPR, 45 days under CCPA/CPRA). You may designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf where permitted by law.

10. Children's Privacy

The Service is not directed to children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 16 (or the minimum age required by local law, such as 13 in the United States under COPPA where applicable). If we learn that we have collected personal data from a child without appropriate consent, we will delete it promptly. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us at support@kenochat.com.

11. Security

We implement administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal data against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, or alteration, including encryption in transit, hashed credential storage, and access controls. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

12. Automated Decision-Making

We may use automated systems (including AI-assisted tools) to help detect spam, abusive content, or policy violations, and to power features like recommendations or leaderboards. These systems do not produce legal or similarly significant effects about you without the possibility of human review. You may request human review of a moderation decision by contacting us.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you by posting a notice on the Service or by other means (such as email) before the changes take effect. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page indicates when this Policy was last revised.

14. Contact Us

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at support@kenochat.com.