MelanatedKindred Privacy Policy

We collect information you provide directly, information generated through your use of the Platform, and limited technical data needed to operate the service.

Account and Profile Information

• Email address, password, and authentication information managed through our auth provider.
• Display name, profile photo, cover/banner photo, and bio.
• Account type (Personal or Business), and for Business accounts, business name, business description, and your Black-owned business self-attestation.
• Privacy setting: Public or Followers-only.

Content You Create

• Posts, comments, likes, photos, and messages.
• Promotional posts and external links shared by Business accounts.
• Reshares of other users' content, which retain the original author's attribution by design.

Usage and Technical Data

• Device type, browser type, IP address, and approximate location derived from your IP.
• Log data such as pages viewed, features used, and timestamps of activity.
• Crash reports and error data to help us improve stability.

• To create and maintain your account, authenticate you, and keep you signed in across sessions.
• To display your profile, posts, photos, and messages to other users according to your privacy settings.
• To operate the feed, discovery/search, follow requests, blocking, and messaging features.
• To review reports, enforce our Community Guidelines and Terms of Service, and protect the Platform from abuse.
• To communicate with you about your account, security, or legal matters.
• To analyze usage trends and fix bugs (using aggregated or de-identified data where possible).

We do not sell your personal information. We do not use your content to train third-party AI models.

MelanatedKindred is intended for users who are 18 years of age or older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If we learn that an account belongs to someone under 18, we will delete the account and associated data.

Public vs. Followers-only

• Public profiles: Your profile, posts, photos, and follower/following lists are visible to any user of the Platform.
• Followers-only profiles: Your profile details, posts, photos, and follower/following lists are only visible to users whose follow requests you have approved. Your display name may still appear in search/discovery, but your content remains restricted.

Blocking

When you block another user, they can no longer view your profile or content, follow you, message you, like or comment on your posts, or interact with you in any way. Blocked users are not notified that they have been blocked. You can manage and remove blocks from your account settings.

Messages

Direct messages are only visible to the participants in a conversation. Messages are subject to the same blocking rules as other content: blocked users cannot send you new messages. Existing message threads remain visible to the other participant unless and until they delete their copy or their account.

Business Accounts

Business accounts are always Public and cannot be set to Followers-only. This allows the community to discover and support Black-owned businesses. A Business account's contact email is visible on its public profile.

Pausing Your Account

You may pause your account at any time from your Edit Profile screen. A paused account is immediately hidden from Find People, search, the Business Directory, and new messages. Existing message threads remain visible to the other participants. Signing back in automatically reactivates a paused account.

Deleting Your Account

You may request account deletion from your Edit Profile screen. When you confirm deletion:

• Your account is deactivated immediately and hidden from other users, just like pausing.
• Your account enters a 30-day grace period. During this time, you can cancel the deletion by signing back in, which will fully restore your account.
• If you do not sign back in within 30 days, your account and all associated personal data — including your profile, posts, comments, likes, follows, blocks, messages, business listing details, and uploaded photos — will be permanently and irreversibly deleted.
• Deleted data cannot be recovered.

How the 30-Day Purge Runs

A secure, automated cleanup process runs daily to identify accounts whose deletion was requested more than 30 days ago. It removes the associated user record, which cascades to delete related profile and social data from our database, and removes uploaded images from our storage buckets. Only accounts past the 30-day mark are targeted. Accounts without a deletion request, or accounts that reactivate during the grace period, are never affected.

• With other users: According to your privacy settings, as described in Section 4.
• With service providers: We use trusted providers for hosting, authentication, email delivery, storage, and analytics. They are contractually required to process data only on our behalf and to protect it.
• For legal reasons: We may disclose information if required by law, subpoena, or to protect our rights, users, or the public.
• With your consent: In any other case, only if you explicitly agree.

We use industry-standard measures to protect your data, including encryption in transit, access controls, and Row Level Security in our database. No system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. If we learn of a breach that affects your data, we will notify you as required by law.

We keep your information for as long as your account is active, and for a limited period afterward as needed for legal, security, or operational purposes. When you delete your account and the 30-day grace period expires, your data is permanently removed as described in Section 5.

Note for legal review: retention periods for logs, backups, and legal hold data should be finalized with counsel.

[This section requires attorney review before launch, especially for users in California, the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and other jurisdictions with comprehensive privacy laws.]

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you.
• Correct inaccurate or incomplete personal information.
• Delete your personal information (see Section 5 for account deletion).
• Object to or restrict certain processing of your personal information.
• Receive a copy of your data in a portable format.
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.
• Opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information, if applicable. We do not sell personal information.

To exercise these rights, contact us using the information in Section 13. We will respond within the timeframe required by applicable law and may need to verify your identity before processing your request.

We use cookies and similar technologies to keep you signed in, remember your preferences, and understand how the Platform is used. You can control cookies through your browser settings, but disabling them may affect functionality such as persistent sessions.

The Platform may contain links to external websites or services, including links posted by Business accounts. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those third parties. We encourage you to review their privacy policies before providing them with any information.

[This section requires attorney review before launch if the Platform is used by residents outside the United States.]

MelanatedKindred is operated from the United States. If you access the Platform from outside the United States, your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States or other countries where our service providers operate.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will provide notice (such as an in-app notification or updated "Effective Date"). Continued use of the Platform after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy.

Questions about this Privacy Policy, or to exercise your data rights, contact us at [INSERT CONTACT EMAIL], or through the in-app contact method described in our Community Guidelines.