Privacy Policy
These terms have not yet been reviewed by a lawyer.
Last updated: 14 October 2026
1. Controller and contact
Controller: Cezar Drumea, an individual based in Romania (a full postal address is available on request via support@gifchat.app). Contact for privacy: support@gifchat.app. We have not appointed a Data Protection Officer. EU representative: not needed if established in the EU.
2. What we collect
| Category | Examples | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Account | username, email/login method, profile photo, password hash | you |
| Age and identity | date of birth, ID document images, selfie/liveness result, verification status, name on ID | you, via our verification vendor |
| Live video (battles) | one captured video frame per battle (and sometimes short audio) used for judging and safety scans; live video stream passes through LiveKit | your camera |
| Audio recordings (debates) | audio recorded per debate round | your microphone |
| Transcripts | text made from the debate audio, plus AI verdicts and reasoning | generated |
| Moderation data | automated moderation results on video, reports, blocks, warnings, bans | generated / other users |
| Social | chat messages, votes, gifts sent and received, battle history, win/loss | you |
| Purchases | coin balance, Apple transaction identifiers (we do not see your card) | Apple |
| Payout data | Stripe Connect account ID, verification status, payout history, tax data you give Stripe | you / Stripe |
| Technical | IP address, device type, OS, app version, push token, crash and security logs | your device |
Faces and voices in frames and recordings are personal data. Our ID verification provider processes ID and selfie data separately, see below. Please do not show other people without their consent.
3. Why we use it and our legal basis (GDPR Art. 6, 9)
| Purpose | Data | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Create and run your account | account, technical | Contract (6(1)(b)) |
| Check you are 18+ | DOB, ID data, selfie/liveness | Legal obligation / legitimate interest to protect minors (6(1)(c)/(f)); for any biometric face match by the vendor: explicit consent (9(2)(a)) |
| Run battles and AI judging | video frame, audio | Consent shown before each battle (6(1)(a)); contract |
| Record, transcribe, judge debates | audio, transcripts | Consent shown before each debate (6(1)(a)); contract |
| Live safety scanning and reports | video, audio, reports | Legitimate interest and legal obligation under the DSA (6(1)(f), 6(1)(c)) |
| Coins, gifts, payouts | purchase and payout data | Contract; legal obligation (accounting, tax, AML) |
| Fraud and abuse prevention | technical, account, payout | Legitimate interest |
| Legal claims, authorities | any needed | Legal obligation / legitimate interest |
| Product improvement | usage | Legitimate interest |
If you withdraw consent, the processing based on it stops going forward; you may then not be able to join battles or debates. Face-based sorting of people into "attractive" categories does not happen; the Looksmaxing judge only compares two frames inside a game (see Terms section 6).
4. Automated decisions
The AI judge decides game results automatically. These results have no legal or similarly significant effect on you (they do not set prices, access to payouts or bans). Moderation by Hive is automated; a ban or removal based on it can be appealed and reviewed by a human (see DSA page). You can ask us to explain a verdict; the reasoning is shown in the app.
5. Who receives your data (processors and recipients)
| Who | For | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | database, auth, storage | EU region |
| Railway | app server | per provider settings |
| Vercel | website | global edge |
| LiveKit Cloud | live video/audio transport | EU region where available |
| Anthropic (Claude) | AI judging of captured frames, transcript judging | USA |
| Hive | automated video moderation | per provider settings |
| Speech-to-text vendor | transcription of debate audio | provider to be named when this feature is enabled |
| ID verification vendor | age/ID check | provider to be named when this feature is enabled |
| Apple | in-app purchases | USA / global |
| Stripe (Stripe Connect) | payouts, identity checks for cash-out | Ireland / USA; Stripe is also a controller for its own checks |
| Email / push providers | notices | standard email and push providers |
We also share data with authorities when legally required, and with advisers, or a buyer of the business, under confidentiality. We do not sell your personal data. Viewers of a debate see and hear what you stream live.
6. International transfers
Where data goes outside the EEA (for example to the USA), we rely on an EU adequacy decision (such as the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where the vendor is certified) or Standard Contractual Clauses plus safeguards.
7. How long we keep data
| Data | Retention |
|---|---|
| Captured battle frame (for judging) | kept only in server memory while it is scanned and judged, then discarded; never saved to disk or storage. A copy is kept only if the battle is reported (then until case closed + 6 months) |
| Live video stream | not stored by us; passes through in real time |
| Debate audio | not saved by us: each turn's audio is held in server memory only long enough to be sent to the speech-to-text vendor, then discarded. Only the transcript is kept (next row) |
| Debate transcripts and verdicts | 12 months after the debate ends, then deleted automatically; longer if the debate is reported |
| ID document images and selfie | deleted by us/vendor as soon as the check finishes (max 30 days); we keep only the result (verified yes/no, date, DOB) |
| Date of birth / verified status | while the account exists, and, after deletion, as long as needed to block re-registration |
| Debate chat messages and votes | 90 days after the debate ends, then deleted automatically; longer if the debate is reported |
| Reports, moderation records, statements of reasons | 12 months after decision (DSA); bans kept to prevent return, 3 years |
| Purchase, gift and payout records | 10 years (Romanian accounting rules;) |
| Technical/security logs | our app writes no log database; operational logs sit with our hosting providers (Railway, Supabase) and follow their rolling retention, which we aim to keep at 6 months or less |
| Account data | until you delete the account, then within 30 days, except the above |
8. Your rights
Under the GDPR you can ask for: access, correction, deletion, restriction, portability, objection to processing based on legitimate interest, withdrawal of consent at any time, and not to be subject to certain solely-automated decisions. Write to support@gifchat.app; we answer within 1 month. You can complain to the Romanian data protection authority, ANSPDCP (dataprotection.ro), or to the authority in your country.
9. Children
DB8 is for adults only (18+). We do not knowingly process data of minors. If you think a minor uses the app, report it and we will remove the account and data.
10. Security
Encryption in transit, access limited to staff who need it, separate storage for ID results, logging. No system is perfectly secure. We will notify the authority and you of serious breaches as required by law.
11. Changes
We will post changes here and notify you in the app for important ones.