Privacy Notice

This notice explains what personal data Zora Network Ltd collects when you use Zora, why, and your rights. We are the data controller, based at 2 Davidson Court, Wallyford, Musselburgh, EH21 8GT, Scotland. Contact us about privacy at support@zorasocial.com.

The short version: we collect what we need to run a community platform, we never sell your data, we never show ads, and you can download or delete your data yourself at any time.

What we collect

• Account details: name, username, email address, password (stored encrypted), and the fact that you confirmed you are 18 or over. We do not keep your date of birth.
• Profile details you choose to add: photo, city, roots, languages, pronouns, bio and website.
• What you do on Zora: posts, replies, photos and files, Circles and Communities you join, people you keep up with or block, events you RSVP to, listings, courses and course progress, saved posts and appreciations.
• Private messages: stored so we can deliver them. Staff only read a message if it is reported to us or the law requires it.
• Reports and moderation records.
• Payments: if you buy Premium, Stripe or PayPal process your card or account details. We receive only a customer reference, subscription status and renewal date.
• Technical data: IP address and security logs used to keep accounts safe and prevent abuse.

Some information you share, such as your roots, languages or faith-related Circles you join, may reveal sensitive details (such as ethnic origin or religious belief). You choose whether to share it. We process it only to show it where you put it, on the basis that you have made it public on Zora or given your explicit consent by adding it.

Why we use it, and our lawful bases

• To provide Zora (accounts, your feed, messages, events, Premium): to perform our contract with you.
• To keep members safe (moderation, preventing spam, fraud and abuse, age checks): our legitimate interests and our legal obligations, including under the Online Safety Act 2023.
• To send service emails (email confirmation, password resets, message alerts you can switch off): contract and legitimate interests.
• Optional analytics: only with your consent, via the cookie banner.
• To keep financial records: legal obligation.

We do not use your data for advertising, we do not sell it, and we do not rank your feed using it.

Who we share it with

Other members see what you choose to share with them. We use trusted service providers who act on our instructions: our hosting provider (servers in the UK), our email delivery provider, Stripe and PayPal for payments, and, where enabled, an automated content-safety classifier that checks posts for harmful content. If you use Rewrite with AI (a Premium feature), the text you ask us to rewrite is sent to our AI provider (Anthropic or OpenAI) only to create the suggestion. We don't store it, the provider doesn't use it to train its models under our business terms, and nothing changes unless you choose to use the suggestion. We may share information with the police or other authorities where the law requires it or to protect someone from serious harm.

If any provider processes data outside the UK, we make sure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement.

How long we keep it

• Your account and content: until you delete them. Deleting your account removes your profile, posts, messages and memberships straight away. Copies in backups are overwritten within 30 days.
• Notifications: 120 days.
• Moderation records: up to 12 months after the case is closed, longer if needed for legal claims.
• Payment records: 6 years, as required for tax.

Your rights

You have the right to access, correct, delete or download your data, to object to or restrict some uses of it, and to withdraw consent at any time. You can download everything and delete your account yourself in Settings > Your data, or email us. If you are unhappy with how we handle your data you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk, 0303 123 1113).

Children

Zora is only for adults aged 18 and over. If we learn that someone under 18 has an account, we will close it.

Cookies

See our Cookie Notice.

Changes

We will update this notice when our practices change and tell you about important changes.