Privacy Policy

Purposes and legal bases

We process your personal data only for the purposes below, each on the legal basis stated:

• Creating your account and signing you in with SocialID — performance of a contract (GDPR Art. 6(1)(b))
• Delivering chat and direct messages — performance of a contract (GDPR Art. 6(1)(b))
• Bot/spam protection (Cloudflare Turnstile), rate limiting and service security — legitimate interests (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f))
• Reviewing reports, blocking and content moderation — legitimate interests (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f))
• Cookie-free, aggregate visitor and speed measurement (web only) — loaded only if you allow it; you can switch it off via "Cookie preferences" at the bottom of the page — your consent (GDPR Art. 6(1)(a)) — you can withdraw it at any time
• Finding contacts: only if you turn it on, matching by hashes of phone numbers computed on your device — your consent (GDPR Art. 6(1)(a)) — you can withdraw it at any time
• Contextual ads in the free version: chosen only by region, language and screen placement; no personal profile is used — legitimate interests (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f))
• Where processing is based on consent, you can withdraw it at any time; withdrawal does not affect processing carried out before it.

How long we keep your data

Your account and content are kept for as long as your account is open; they are not deleted automatically after a fixed number of days. When you delete your account in the app, the following are deleted immediately and permanently: your username, the keyed hash of your phone number or your SocialID link, your discoverability setting, your subscription record and your message history on our server

Technical logs and automatic backups kept by our hosting and database providers are retained for a limited period set by each provider's own retention cycle and are then deleted automatically. These copies are not used to provide the service.

International transfers

Our hosting provider, Vercel Inc. (United States), may process technical data such as your IP address when delivering the service. Where data is transferred outside the European Economic Area, we rely on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses (GDPR Art. 46(2)(c)) contained in the provider's data processing addendum: vercel.com/legal/dpa The providers below (all headquartered in the United States) also receive limited data when the relevant feature is used; for each, our basis for transfers outside the EEA is the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses in the provider's published data processing addendum (GDPR Art. 46(2)(c)):

• Vercel Web Analytics and Speed Insights (Vercel Inc., United States) — visitor and page-speed measurement, web only: technical data such as the page visited, referring address, browser/device type, country and page load times is collected without setting cookies and turned into aggregate statistics. The legal basis is your consent (GDPR Art. 6(1)(a); ePrivacy Art. 5(3)): the tool is loaded only if you allow it in the banner at the bottom of the page, and you can withdraw consent at any time via the "Cookie preferences" link in the same place. The data may be transferred to the United States; the transfer mechanism is the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses in the provider's data processing addendum (GDPR Art. 46(2)(c)). vercel.com/legal/dpa
• Neon — database hosting (data is kept in an EU region; the provider is headquartered in the United States). Where access from outside the EEA may occur, the provider's data processing addendum (DPA) and Standard Contractual Clauses apply.

SocialID — a separate controller

Sign-in is provided by SocialID. SocialID's controller is SOSYAL TURİZM BİLİŞİM REKLAM TEKSTİL SANAYİ VE TİCARET LİMİTED ŞİRKETİ, a separate, independent controller from Sosya Chat, established in Türkiye. Your SocialID account data such as e-mail, password and phone number is processed under SocialID's responsibility; for its infrastructure providers and the database region, see SocialID's privacy policy: www.socialid.me/gizlilik. Sosya Chat receives only your SocialID number and display name from SocialID.

SocialID keeps a record of which platforms you have signed in to (including Sosya Chat) until you delete your SocialID account; deleting your account inside Sosya Chat does not remove this record — you can delete it from SocialID's account deletion page: www.socialid.me/hesap/sil.

Even if you delete your SocialID account, SocialID keeps your identity and sign-in records (name, e-mail, phone, platform memberships, sign-in dates and IP addresses) in an encrypted, offline archive for 5 years for legal claims in case of fraud or crime (GDPR Art. 17(3)(e), Art. 6(1)(f)); this archive is accessed only upon a legal request or an order from an authority. Recent sign-ins are shown in the SocialID panel for 90 days.

Children's data (GDPR Art. 8)

Sosya Chat is not offered to anyone under 16; this is our own minimum age of use (a product decision). On the age of digital consent, GDPR Art. 8 sets the EU-level default at 16; Member States may set a lower age in their own law, and Bulgaria, where the controller is established, has set it below 16 (ЗЗЛД Art. 25в). Because this service is not offered to anyone under 16, there is no parental-consent route and we do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 16.

If we learn that someone under 16 has opened an account, we delete the account and its data and do not collect extra data for that purpose. A parent or guardian who notices a child's account can write to us through our contact page; the request is handled without undue delay.

Whether providing data is required

To create an account you need a SocialID account or a phone number; without one you cannot use the service.

Automated decision-making and profiling

There is no automated decision with legal effect. Request limits are applied against abuse.

Your rights and how to complain

Under the GDPR you have the following rights over your data:

• Access (GDPR Art. 15), rectification (Art. 16), erasure (Art. 17) and data portability (Art. 20).
• Restriction of processing (Art. 18): while you contest the accuracy of your data, if processing is unlawful, or while your objection is being assessed, your data is only stored and not otherwise used.
• Objection (Art. 21): you can object, on grounds relating to your particular situation, to processing based on legitimate interests (e.g. security, moderation); we then stop unless we demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds.
• You can send your requests via chat.sosya.com/iletisim; we reply within one month at the latest (GDPR Art. 12(3)).

Complaint to a supervisory authority (GDPR Art. 77): as the controller is established in Bulgaria, the lead authority is the Bulgarian Commission for Personal Data Protection — Комисия за защита на личните данни (КЗЛД), cpdp.bg. You may also complain to the data protection authority of the EU country where you live or work.