Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of data to operate and protect the Platform:

• Account Information: Legal name, email address, username, account authentication information, and date of birth.
• Profile Customization: Profile photo, bio, field of expertise, educational background, and credentials.
• User-Generated Content: Posts, captions, images, media uploads, comments, and direct messages created by you.
• Interaction Data: Likes, follows, reposts, shares, and topic room memberships.
• Contribution Data: Purchase and payment details, such as amounts and transaction records (payments are processed by Stripe).
• Platform Security Logs: IP addresses recorded at signup and during account activity, browser types, page interactions, timestamps, and device metrics.
• Safety Acknowledgment Logs: Explicit records of your agreement to our safety policies during account creation, tied legally to your IP address and signup timestamp.

Account and Activity Information

We may collect information about your use of VIYU, including your account creation date, login activity, last active date or time, posting activity, and account status. We use this information to operate and maintain VIYU, understand account activity, maintain platform security, prevent and investigate spam, prohibited automation and abuse, and enforce our Terms and Community Guidelines.

We retain account and activity information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and as permitted or required by applicable law.

VIYU Voices Agreement Records

If you are approved for VIYU Voices and electronically accept the VIYU Voices Agreement, we collect and maintain information necessary to document that agreement, including your full legal name, VIYU account information, the version and text of the Agreement you accepted, and the date and time of your electronic acceptance. We use this information to document and administer your participation in VIYU Voices, maintain agreement records, and address related legal or compliance matters. These records are accessible only to you, where applicable, and authorized VIYU administrators. We retain them only for as long as reasonably necessary for these purposes or as permitted or required by applicable law.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to operate VIYU and keep it safe, including to:

• Providing, maintaining, and improving the features of the VIYU platform.
• Authenticating user accounts and protecting profiles against unauthorized access.
• Displaying your profile and public content to other users in accordance with your visibility settings.
• Processing voluntary platform contributions and payments through our integration with Stripe.
• Content Moderation & Enforcement: Running automated security workflows and human moderation to identify spam, bots, or policy violations.
• Enforcing the 18+ Age Requirement: Helping ensure accounts belong to adults (18 or older), and terminating any account found to be operated by a minor. VIYU is an adults-only platform.
• Complying with federal, state, and global legal obligations.

3. Data Security and Infrastructure

We take reasonable measures to protect your information:

• Data sent between your device and VIYU is encrypted in transit using TLS.
• Account credentials are protected using industry-standard methods, and VIYU staff cannot view your password or other sign-in secrets.
• VIYU uses reputable third-party hosting and service providers to operate the platform.
• No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
• We limit internal access to personal information to authorized personnel who need it to operate VIYU.

4. Data Sharing and Third-Party Processors

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data. Your information is shared only with verified service providers to run the platform:

• Stripe: For processing payments and transactions. VIYU does not store your full card details.
• Stripe Identity: If you choose to opt into full verification, the process is handled directly and securely by Stripe Identity. VIYU never receives, processes, or stores your government ID documents or raw data.
• Operational Vendors: Service providers that help us operate VIYU, such as hosting, database, and email delivery providers.
• Legal Protections: When required by a valid subpoena, court order, or applicable federal law.

5. California Privacy Rights (CCPA)

Where applicable under California law, including the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), California residents may have the right to:

• Know what personal data we collect, use, and share.
• Request the permanent deletion of their personal data.
• Opt-out of any potential sale of personal data (we explicitly do not sell your data).
• Receive equal service and non-discrimination for exercising privacy rights.

To exercise any CCPA rights, contact our privacy desk at support@theviyu.com.

6. Automated Moderation Systems

To help protect VIYU from spam and prohibited automation, VIYU uses automated scanning and filtering tools.

• These tools analyze behavioral patterns and metadata to help identify spam, scrapers, and bot-like activity. Signals may flag an account for review, but a flag alone does not establish bot activity, and inactivity alone is not treated as suspicious.
• No AI Training: None of your personal identifying data or user-uploaded media is ever used, sold, or shared to train external artificial intelligence tools, Large Language Models (LLMs), or generative software.

7. Content Moderation Liability Shield

VIYU acts as a passive venue for human interaction. Under applicable federal law, we are not the publishers or speakers of user-uploaded text or media.

• We reserve the right, but do not assume the liability, to moderate, flag, or delete content.
• Content may be removed for containing explicit or sexual media, hate speech, severe harassment, malicious misinformation, or violations of our Community Guidelines.
• Strictly 18+ Community: VIYU is an adults-only platform. Minors are strictly prohibited, and any account found to belong to an individual under 18 is permanently terminated. VIYU may remove illegal content and may preserve or report it where required or permitted by law.

8. Your Account Rights

You retain control over your digital footprint. Inside your VIYU account settings, you can:

• Access, update, or correct your profile data at any time.
• Adjust your private messaging preferences to restrict who can contact you.
• Control your push and email notification toggles.
• Request the permanent closure and deletion of your account.

9. Data Retention

Your personal information is retained only for as long as reasonably necessary to provide VIYU, maintain the security and integrity of the platform, comply with applicable law, and fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.

When you request deletion of your account, VIYU will delete or anonymize personal information associated with your account in accordance with applicable law, unless retention of certain information is permitted or required for legal, security, fraud-prevention, dispute-resolution, or other legitimate purposes recognized by applicable law.

Information retained under an applicable exception will be kept only for as long as necessary for that purpose and will not be used for unrelated purposes.

10. Verified Identity in News Rooms

Posting in VIYU's designated News (journalism) Topic Rooms requires verification.

• Verification provides an additional layer of identity and accountability for posts in these spaces.
• Users are responsible for the accuracy, legality, and consequences of sensitive or controversial statements they publish in these rooms.
• VIYU may disclose information about the account behind a post when required by valid legal process.

11. Legal Requests and Disclosure

VIYU may preserve or disclose information, such as account records, IP addresses, activity records, and safety acknowledgments, when required or permitted by law, including in response to a valid warrant, subpoena, or court order, or where we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to prevent imminent harm to a person.

12. Third-Party Embeds (Spotify)

VIYU lets you add a supported Spotify link to your profile, which is displayed using Spotify's official embedded player. When the embed loads, Spotify may set cookies or use similar technologies on your device, subject to Spotify's own Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

• Spotify's processing of information through the embedded player is governed by Spotify's applicable privacy terms and policies. VIYU does not receive, store, or process Spotify account credentials, Spotify audio files, or Spotify playback data through the embed.
• We do not send any Spotify-derived data to advertising, ad-targeting analytics, data-broker, or monetization systems.
• No Affiliation: VIYU is not affiliated with, sponsored by, endorsed by, or partnered with Spotify. Spotify playback is a free profile feature and is never behind a paywall or subscription.
• The Spotify embed is optional. Profile owners can remove their music link at any time, and the feature can be disabled platform-wide.

13. Do Not Track Signals

Some web browsers offer a "Do Not Track" (DNT) setting that lets you signal a preference not to have your online activity tracked. There is currently no industry or legal standard for how platforms must respond to these signals. Because of this, VIYU does not currently respond to Do Not Track browser signals. We only collect and use data as described in this Privacy Policy, and we do not track your activity across third-party websites for advertising purposes.

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changing product features or legislative shifts. When changes occur, we will update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this document and notify you via an in-app alert or account email. Continued use of VIYU implies your acceptance of the updated terms.

15. Contact Us

For privacy inquiries, account data clearance, or platform support, please contact us at support@theviyu.com.