PRIVACY POLICY

Last Updated October 16, 2024

This privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) explains how information about you is collected, used and disclosed by Newsbang, Inc. (the “Company”, “we”, “our” or “us”). This Privacy Policy applies to information we collect when you use NewsBang (the Services”).

By downloading, accessing, using and/or interacting with our Services, you agree and expressly consent to our collection, use and disclosure of the information that you provide as described in this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy is incorporated by reference into the Terms of Service available at https://www.newsbang.com/agreement/terms-of-service (our “Terms of Service”) and is subject to the provisions of the Terms of Service. Capitalized terms used but not defined in this Privacy Policy shall have the meaning ascribed to such terms in our Terms of Service. If you have any concerns about providing information to us or the use of that information as described in this Privacy Policy, you should not use our Services.

Modifications

Because we are always looking for new and innovative ways to help you achieve your goals in connection with the use of our Services, this Privacy Policy may change over time, so please review it frequently. The date at the top indicates the last time this Privacy Policy was modified. If we modify the terms of this Privacy Policy, we will notify you. If we are required by applicable data protection laws to give you enhanced notice or seek your consent for any such changes, we will do so. You can see when this Privacy Policy was last updated by checking the Last Updated” date displayed at the top of this policy. Any revised Privacy Policy will supersede all previous privacy policies.

You may opt-out of any revised Privacy Policy by cancelling your account through the settings of the Service you are using. If you are not able to cancel your account through the account settings, please contact us at support@newsbang.com. We are happy to assist you.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or any other matter, please email us at support@newsbang.com. You may also submit feedback through NewsBang by navigating to the “Account” button, clicking “Settings,” and then selecting “Feedback.” When submitting feedback, please include a description and/or screenshot.

You may also write to us at:

Newsbang, Inc.

303 Twin Dolphin Drive, #6054

Redwood City, CA 94065, United States

1.  Personal Information We Collect

We may collect and use the following personal information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household or natural person:

Categories of Personal Information

 

Specific Types Collected

Identifiers

Name, telephone number, username or other online identifier, email address, account password, and region (at the state level within the U.S. and at the provincial, city and/or district levels in other regions, as applicable).

Internet or other similar network information

In-Service browsing and search history and IP address.

Sensitive personal information

We offer certain features to enhance your experience that collect and process your sensitive personal information (also referred to as “sensitive personal data” or “sensitive data” under applicable laws and regulations).

We will collect your account log-in, along with any required security or access code, password, or credentials allowing access to an account.

Other than these types of information, we do not collect any sensitive personal information.

Please see Limit the Use of My Sensitive Personal Information for more details on your privacy rights relating to your sensitive personal information.

User-generated profiles and content

User profile and avatar, occupation and hobbies.

Device information

Hardware model, device size and model, operating system and version, unique device identifiers, country of access, crash reports, request and referral URL’s and/or system activity details.

Software information

Which version of software and what updates a user has installed or uses, and/or the presence of required plug-ins.

Use information

Preferred language, access times, activity, and interactions with our Services, such as the user click-through and session duration.

2.  How We Collect Information

We only collect personal information that is necessary for providing the Services in accordance with the principles of legitimacy, legality, necessity, and good faith. We collect internet information, device information, software information, use information from you automatically when you use the Services.

In addition to personal information we automatically collect, you may directly share your personal information with us in the following ways:

·   Identifiers. You may share personal information when you create an account with us.

·   Customer Support and Other Communications. When you contact us for customer support or otherwise communicate with us, you may provide us with information related to your use of our Services, including any contact or identifying information, or any other information you deem helpful.

In addition to the information that we collect directly from you, we also collect certain information from our third party sources listed below (our “Third Party Sources”):

·   Third Party Account Registration Services. You may log in to our products or Services through a third party service. In the event you log in to our product or Services through a third party service, after your authorization, we will collect personal information provided to us by the third party. We have identified the names of some third party services that allow you to register for and log in to our products or Services. Please see the links below to learn more about the personal information practices of such services and the personal information collected from the associated third party.

Third Party

 

Privacy Policy

 

Personal Information We Receive

Google LLC

Link

Avatar, name, and email address

Meta Platforms, Inc.

Link

Avatar, name, and email address

Apple, Inc.

Link

Avatar, name, and email address

·   Third Party Services and User Information. We use third parties to provide analytics and payment services. These third parties may use information that you provide to such third parties and other technologies to collect information about you on our Services and other websites and online services. This Privacy Policy does not apply to, and we are not responsible for third party cookies, web beacons, or other tracking technologies (if any). We have identified the provider names of the third-party analytics and payment services we use. Please see the links below to learn more about the data practices of these third party service providers:

Third Party

 

Privacy Policy

 

Personal Information We Receive

AppsFlyer, Inc.

Link

Internet information and activity, device information, and use information

Sensors Data

Link

Internet information and activity, device information, and use information

Stripe, Inc.

Link

Email address

In particular, and in the past twelve (12) months, we collected the following categories of personal information:

Categories of Personal Information

 

How We Collect It

Identifiers

 

Directly from you when you create or manage an account with us, and where applicable, from our Third Party Sources.

 

Internet or other similar network information

 

Directly from you when you access our Services from a computer and/or other device.

 

 

User-generated profiles and comments

 

Directly from you when you create or manage an account with us, or when you post comments within our Services.

Device information

Automatically from you, when you access our Services from a computer and/or other device, and where applicable, from our Third Party Sources, such as unique device identifiers, device size and model.

Software information

Automatically from you when you use our Services, and where applicable, from our Third Party Sources.

Use information

Automatically from you when you use our Services, including the user’s interaction within our Services, such as the user click-through and session duration.

3.  How And Why We Use Your Personal Information

We will only use your personal information with your consent.

The personal information you permit us to collect and process allows us to provide you with the Services, give you notices regarding the Services, carry out our obligations and enforce our rights in connection with the Services, and fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it.

The internet, device, software, and use information we collect helps us to improve the Services and deliver a better and more personalized experience by allowing us to estimate our audience size and usage patterns, store information about your preferences, improve features in the Services, and recognize when you use the Services.

Before using your personal information beyond the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, we will inform you in a timely and reasonable manner, obtain your consent, and explain why we would like to use your personal information.

In some cases, we may use your personal information for our legitimate interests or those of a third party, including to provide, maintain, develop, and protect our Services and features, to provide you with support, to send you administrative and technical communications regarding the Services, to conduct and enhance our internal business practices and organizational efforts, and to prevent bad behavior such as fraud, violations of our policies, unauthorized access and modification of the Service and our systems or disclosure of certain information.

In rare cases, we may need to use your personal information to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, including to conduct checks to identify our users and verify their identity (where appropriate), to comply with certain laws and regulations, to conduct audits, and to engage in inquiries or investigations by law or regulatory bodies.

Because we are continuously improving our products and Services, we may launch optimization functions from time to time which may increase or change the scope, purpose and/or method of collecting and using your personal information. In the event any optimization functions increase or change the scope, purpose, and/or method of collecting and using your personal information, we will clearly explain it to you by updating this Privacy Policy and providing you with notice.

In particular, and over the past twelve (12) months, we collect and use the below types of personal information in the following contexts for the following reasons:

Context of Use

 

Personal Information Collected

 

Used…

Account registration

 

Username, name, email address, phone number and password.

 

With your consent

For our legitimate interests

Account management

 

Region, avatar, username, name, nickname, personal profile.

With your consent

For our legitimate interests

To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations

Search

 

Device information, log information, in-Service browsing and search history, timing, and times.

We collect this information to quickly match the content you need and the content you may be interested in, as well as to improve our products and services.

 

With your consent

For our legitimate interests

Customer service and dispute resolution

 

We may need you to provide your real name, mobile phone number, email and other contact information, and city / region information to help you solve problems. We may also collect your communication information with us (including text / picture / audio and video / call record form), and other necessary information related to your request.

 

With your consent

For the performance of our contract

To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations

For our legitimate interests

Product optimization

 

We may collect your device information, log information (operation log, service log), bugs and crashes reports to conduct analysis on user behavior and product performance, in order to improve our services in the future.

With your consent

For our legitimate interests

4.  Who We Reveal Your Personal Information To

You may ask us to share your personal information in a portable format with a third party of your choosing by submitting a verifiable request in accordance with Section 9 (How to Exercise Your Rights) of this Privacy Policy. We do not sell your personal information.

In certain circumstances, we may disclose (i.e., share, release, disclose, disseminate, make available, transfer, or otherwise communicate) personal information with others for our operational and business purposes. We will only disclose your personal information for legal, legitimate, necessary, specific and clear purposes, and will only disclose the personal information necessary to provide services. At the same time, we will enter into agreements with third party recipients where necessary and require them to process your personal information in accordance with our instructions, this Privacy Policy and any other relevant confidentiality and security measures. Except as described in this Privacy Policy, we will not disclose your personal information to any other third parties.  In particular, we may disclose personal information to:

·   Affiliates. We may disclose your personal information to our affiliates, including companies within the Newsbang, Inc. group and the professional advisors of the Company, such as lawyers, auditors and insurers, where necessary in connection with such professional advisor services. Our affiliates are subject to the processing scope and purpose restrictions of this Privacy Policy. If an affiliate wants to change the purpose of processing for your personal information, we or the affiliate will ask for your authorization again.

·   Service Providers. We may disclose your personal information to our service providers, who work on our behalf for the purposes described throughout this Policy and receive and process personal information for our business purposes. All of our service providers are contractually obligated to protect personal information to the highest degree required under law. If you refuse to allow our service providers to collect the personal information necessary for providing specific services, you may not be able to use such services in our platform. Our service providers are not authorized to use your personal information for any other purpose. Our service providers include:

Service Provider

 

Categories Shared in the Last 12 Mos.

Purpose

OpenAI, LLC

(ChatGPT)

 

User-generated profiles and content

Use information

To provide AI-powered functionalities

 

Meta Platforms, Inc.

 

User-generated profiles and content

Use information

To provide AI-powered functionalities and for marketing purposes

 

Google LLC

 

Email address

User-generated content

For region-related functions (at the state level within the U.S. and at the provincial, city and/or district levels in other regions, as applicable), marketing and to understand how our users interact with our Services

AppsFlyer Inc.

Device information (such as unique device identifiers)

Use information

To assess the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns

Sensors Data

 

Device information (such as unique device identifiers, size and model)

Use information (such as user’s interaction within our Services including user click-through and session duration)

To assess the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns

Stripe, Inc.

 

Device information (such as unique device identifiers)

To provide payment services, if and when such service become active

Microsoft

 

User-generated profiles and content

Use information

To provide AI-powered functionalities

Llamaindex

 

User-generated content

To provide AI-powered functionalities

MailChimp

 

Email address

For marketing

We also may disclose personal information with any competent law enforcement body, regulatory body, government agency, court or any other third party where we believe disclosure is necessary as a matter of applicable law or regulation, to exercise or defend our legal rights, or to protect the vital interests of you or someone else.

In case of a merger, acquisition, bankruptcy, or liquidation of our Company where the transfer of personal information may be involved, we will require new companies and/or organizations that come into possession of your personal information to continue to be bound by this Privacy Policy. If the new company or organization wishes to change its practices with respect to the collection and processing of your personal information and as outlined in this Privacy Policy, such new company or organization will ask for your consent before doing so.

We may also disclose anonymized, aggregated information (no longer personal information) with selected third parties for statistical or research purposes.

5.  Where Your Personal Information Is Held

We store information about users on servers primarily located in the United States. If you are accessing our Services from outside of the United States, please know personal information you submit may be transferred to and stored on servers in the United States. The data protection and other laws of the relevant states of the United States might not be as comprehensive as those in your country. By submitting your data and/or using our Services, you acknowledge that your data might be transferred to, stored and processed in the United States and other countries where we may choose to store data in the future.

6.  How Long Your Personal Information Is Retained

We will not retain your personal information for longer than necessary to achieve the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. When it is no longer necessary to retain your personal information, we will delete and/or anonymize it. In the event the jurisdiction in which you are located has personal information retention requirements that are not compatible with those listed in this Privacy Policy, the requirements of such jurisdiction with respect to personal information retention shall control.

Category of Personal Information

Our Retention Practice

Identifiers

We retain these types of personal information for as long as needed to provide our Services, respond to your questions, complaints, or claims, or as required by law.

 

Internet or other network activity

Messages content

User-Generated profiles and content

Device information

Use information

7.  How Your Personal Information Is Kept Secure

We implement commercially reasonable technical, administrative, and organizational measures to protect personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorized way. Notwithstanding the security measures that have been taken and the legal requirements that have been implemented, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information when you use or communicate through unsafe channels. Therefore, you should also take measures to ensure the security of your personal information, such as changing your account password regularly. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach when we are legally required to do so.

8.  Your Personal Information Rights

You have specific rights regarding your personal information. This section describes your rights. You, or an authorized agent acting on your behalf, may exercise your personal information rights by submitting a verifiable request directly or through our Services (see Section 9 (How To Exercise Your Rights) below).

If an authorized agent submits a request to know or delete your personal information, we require you to (i) provide your authorized agent with signed permission to exercise your rights, (ii) verify your own identity directly with us, and (iii) directly confirm with us your authorized agent has permission to submit the request.

Your Right To…

Details of Your Right

Know About Our Practices With Respect To Your Personal Information

Upon receipt of a verifiable request, we will confirm whether or not we are processing your personal information, and inform you of the categories of personal information we collected about you, the categories of sources for the personal information we collected about you, our basis or purpose for collecting such information, and the third parties with whom we shared your personal information.

Access Your Personal Information in a Portable Format

You can access the personal information submitted to us at any time. Upon receipt of a verifiable request, we will deliver a copy of your personal information to you or another entity free of charge and in a readily useable format.

Correct Your Personal Information

In the event you discover the personal information we have about you is incorrect, upon receipt of a verifiable request we will correct such information and direct our service providers, contractors, or other third party affiliates to similarly correct the information.

Delete Your Personal Information

You may delete your personal information by deleting your account with us. In addition, subject to certain lawful exceptions, upon receipt of a verifiable request we will delete your personal information from our records and direct our service providers, contractors or other third party affiliates to delete your personal information from their records unless they have obtained your separate consent for processing.

Cancel Your Account

You may cancel your account with us anytime through a verifiable request, by deleting your account directly through our Services, or by contacting us at support@newsbang.com. After you cancel your account, (i) you will no longer be able to log in and use our products and services with this account; (ii) the content, information, data, and records under your account will be deleted or anonymized (unless otherwise required by applicable law); and (iii) after the cancellation of an account is completed, it cannot be recovered.

Limit the Use of Your Sensitive Personal Information

Under various applicable privacy laws, you have the right to request that we limit our disclosure or use of your sensitive personal information to only what is necessary to perform our Services or provide features as requested by you.

We self-limit the use of your sensitive personal information by only collecting and using your sensitive personal information as necessary to provide our Services when you choose to activate and use features that necessitate such information. We do not use your sensitive personal information for any other purposes. If you have any questions about our use of or your rights with respect to your sensitive personal information, please contact us at support@newsbang.com.

Limit the Use of Your Ancillary Personal Information

In some cases, you may provide us with personal information that is not strictly necessary for our provision of the Services to you (for example, an avatar or nickname). You can restrict our use of any of your personal information unnecessary for the provision of our Services to you by navigating to the settings of the Service you are using and deleting such personal information.

If you are not able to restrict our use of your personal information unnecessary for the provision of our Services to you through the account settings, please contact us at support@newsbang.com. We are happy to assist you.

In the event you request us not to use ancillary personal information, we will only collect the personal information necessary to perform the functions of our Services. Your refusal to provide certain categories of personal information will only result in your inability to use certain functions of our Services that require that information but will not affect your normal use of other functions of our Services.

9.  How To Exercise Your Rights

If you have established an account with us, to easily access, view, update, correct, delete or port your personal data, or to update your subscription preferences (if applicable), please sign into your account and visit the account settings. Where we rely on consent to collect and use information about you, you can withdraw your consent at any time by deleting your account or contacting us. If you make a request to delete your personal data and that data is necessary for the products or Services you have purchased (if applicable), the request will be honored only to the extent it is no longer necessary for any Services purchased (if applicable) or required for our legitimate business purposes or legal or contractual record keeping requirements.

To exercise the access, data portability, correction, and deletion rights described above please submit a verifiable request to us at support@newsbang.com.

Only you, or a person authorized by law to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable request related to your personal information. You may also make a verifiable request on behalf of your minor child.

The verifiable request must:

We cannot respond to your request or provide you with personal information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the personal information relates to you.

If your account is lost, you can verify through verification email or contact customer support to reset your password. However, in this process, you need to provide some personal information to verify your identity.

Making a verifiable request does not require you to create an account with us. We will only use personal information provided in a verifiable request to verify the requestor’s identity or authority to make the request.

We will send you confirmation of receipt of any verifiable request within ten (10) business days of its receipt. We endeavour to respond substantively to any verifiable request within forty-five (45) days of its receipt. If we require more time, we will inform you of the reason and extension period required in writing.

If you have an account with us, we will deliver our written response to that account or by the method you submitted your request. If you do not have an account with us, we will deliver our written response by the method you submitted your request.

If we cannot comply with a verifiable request, we will explain our reasons to you in writing, if applicable. Where we inform you that we cannot comply with a verifiable request, you may submit an appeal to us within a reasonable period of time following your receipt of our decision to refuse to process your request. In the event you submit an appeal, we will respond to you in writing within forty-five (45) days and disclose any action taken or not taken in response to your appeal and an explanation of our decisions. In some U.S. states, you may have the right to submit your concerns with the result of the appeal to your Attorney General.

For data portability requests, we will select a format to provide your personal information that is readily usable and should allow you to transmit the information from one entity to another without hindrance.

Typically, you will not have to pay a fee to access your personal information or to exercise any of your privacy rights. However, except in relation to consent withdrawal, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive, or excessive. If we determine that the request warrants a fee, we will tell you why we made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate before completing the request. We may also refuse to comply with your request in such circumstances.

We may decline to comply with your request under the following circumstances, and in accordance with applicable laws and regulations:

10.  Your Controls

We give you control over our use and collection of your personal information. In this section, we detail your controls.

Control

 

Details

 

Our Use Of All Personal Information

You can restrict our further use of your personal information by cancelling your account through the settings of the Service you are using.

If you are not able to cancel your account through the account settings, please contact us at support@newsbang.com. We are happy to assist you.

In the event you request us not to use your personal information any further, we will halt processing of your personal information unless necessary for the performance of our contract with you, or if processing is necessary to comply with a legal obligation or to protect the rights and interests of ourselves or a third party.

Push Notifications

You can deactivate push notifications by changing your “Notifications” via your device.

11.  Financial Incentive Notice

We will not discriminate against you in any manner prohibited by applicable law for exercising any of your controls or rights over your personal information. However, we may offer you certain permitted financial incentives related to the collection and/or retention of your personal information, such as programs, benefits, or other offerings. These may be deemed a financial incentive, loyalty program, or price or service difference under applicable law. We are providing you with the information contained in this section so that you may make an informed decision on whether to participate in our programs, such as:

·   Limited-Time Promotions, Contests, or Sweepstakes: From time-to-time, we may offer certain financial incentives limited to a specific time period, such as limited-time sweepstakes, contests, and other promotions. In exchange for participation in these promotions, you may be offered a financial incentive, such as a prize. As part of these limited-time promotions, contests, or sweepstakes, we may collect your personal information, such as your username, name, email address, and/or phone number. Participation in a limited-time offer or promotion is governed by the applicable terms and conditions for the program.

·   One-Time Promotions: We may offer you one-time promotions from time-to-time, and may collect your personal information related to the one-time promotion, such as your username, name, email address, and/or phone number. Participation in a one-time promotion is governed by the applicable terms and conditions for the program.

·   Surveys: We may also offer users the opportunity to participate in surveys. In exchange for participation you may be offered a financial incentive. As part of these surveys we may collect personal information, such as your name, username, email, phone number, preferences, experiences, beliefs, opinions, and other responses to the survey questions.

·   Referrals: We may offer you certain financial incentives when you refer a friend to use our Services. To make a referral, we may require you to provide us with your username, name, telephone number, and/or email address.

Such financial incentives may not be available at all times. The amount and terms of such financial incentives will be presented to you at the time of the offer. The monetary value of any financial incentive will be based on our good-faith estimate of the benefit we receive when you accept our financial incentive offer. We calculate that monetary value by comparing our costs to offer you the financial incentive to the benefit we receive when you accept our offer.

By participating in any of our promotional programs, you agree that the benefits are reasonably related to the value of your personal information collected and retained. Participation in any promotional program is always optional, and you can terminate your participation by contacting us at support@newsbang.com.  

12.  Permission Authorizations

In order to provide you with convenient and high-quality services, we may request some permissions on your device. If you have previously granted us permission authorizations, you may choose to turn off some or all permissions in the setting function of the client or device you are using. The methods for granting or withdrawing permissions may be different on different devices.

Authorization

 

Services and Functions

Address book authorization

 

You can find and add contacts from your address book in some of our Services.

 

Microphone authorization

 

You can send voice messages in some of our Services.

Camera authorization

 

You can use the camera to take photos, capture and upload videos and pictures, and participate in platform activities authorized by you on certain Services.

Photo album and storage authorization

 

You can upload your photos/pictures/videos and locally cached video and audio files by authorizing the access to your photo album, so that you can change your avatar, publish and share comments, or engage with other features on certain Services.

Calendar authorization

 

You can add reminders created on certain Services to alert you at the right time.

13.  How We Respond to Do Not Track Signals

We currently do not respond to Do Not Track signals, but we are continuously reviewing our practices to ensure the best experience for our users.  

14.  Our Policies Regarding Children

As set out in our Terms of Service (available at https://www.newsbang.com/agreement/terms-of-service), you must be at least 18 years old and have the requisite power and authority to access and/or use our Services. If you are still a minor (i.e., under 18 years old), you must obtain the consent of your parent or legal guardian to use our Services.

If you are the legal guardian of a minor, please pay attention to whether the minor uses our Services or provides his or her personal information after obtaining your authorization and approval. If you have questions about the personal information of the minor under your guardianship, please contact us at support@newsbang.com. We are happy to assist you.

Our Services are not intended for children under the age of thirteen (13) (a “Child” or “Children”), and we do not knowingly collect any personal information from Children. Children should not use or attempt to use our Services, and if you are a Child, please do not attempt to use our Services or send any information about yourself to us.

In the event that we learn that we have inadvertently gathered personal information from a Child, we will take reasonable measures to delete such information from our records. Parents who believe that we might have gathered any information from or about a Child may submit a request to delete such information by contacting us at support@newsbang.com. We are happy to assist you.

15.  Filing a Complaint

We hope that we can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your personal information. You can submit feedback or a complaint regarding our privacy practices by contacting us at support@newsbang.com. We will reply to your feedback or complaint as soon as we can. If you feel that a complaint has not been adequately resolved, certain U.S. state-level data privacy laws may enable you to lodge a complaint with your Attorney General or another regulatory body.