Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

Account information: When you register, we collect your name, email address, and username, and we record the date and time you accepted these Terms and this Privacy Policy and which version you accepted. You may optionally add a profile photo, bio, location, phone number, professional credentials, and links.

Content you create: Articles, comments, likes, bookmarks, and follows you make on the Platform are stored and associated with your account.

Usage data: We collect server-side data including page views, article read counts, and interaction patterns. We use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to understand overall site traffic and usage patterns. GA4 collects anonymised, aggregated data — we do not use Meta Pixel, retargeting pixels, or any third-party advertising scripts.

Device & log data: When you access the Platform, our servers automatically record information including your IP address, browser type, operating system, referring URL, pages visited, and timestamps. This data is used for security, debugging, and analytics purposes.

Payment information: If you purchase TaxSocial Pro, payment is processed by Razorpay (a third-party payment gateway). We do not store your card numbers, CVV, bank account details, or UPI credentials. We only store the Razorpay order ID and payment ID for transaction records. All sensitive payment data is handled by Razorpay in accordance with PCI-DSS standards. Please refer to Razorpay's Privacy Policy for details.

2. How We Use Your Information

• To operate, maintain, and improve the Platform
• To send transactional emails (e.g., password reset, notification emails)
• To display your public profile to other users
• To detect and prevent abuse, spam, and security threats
• To generate aggregated, anonymised analytics (e.g., popular articles, trending topics)
• To enforce our Terms of Service and protect the rights and safety of users
• To verify a website when you ask us to: our server fetches the page you listed and looks for a link to your TaxSocial profile, and re-checks it every 90 days
• To comply with applicable legal obligations

3. What We Do Not Do

• We do not sell, rent, or share your personal data with third parties for advertising.
• We do not use behavioural ad targeting or retargeting pixels.
• We do not sell your email address to marketing lists.
• We do not read your private messages. Direct messages are stored securely on our servers and are only accessible to the sender and recipient.
• We do not use your content to train AI or machine learning models.

4. Third-Party Service Providers

We use the following third-party services to operate the Platform. These services may process your data as described below:

• Amazon Web Services (AWS): Server hosting and infrastructure
• Cloudflare: CDN, DDoS protection, and SSL/TLS encryption
• Google Analytics 4: Anonymised website traffic analytics
• Google AdSense: Display advertising (non-personalised ads for non-subscribers)
• Razorpay: Payment processing for TaxSocial Pro subscriptions (PCI-DSS compliant)
• Anthropic (Claude AI): Automated content checks on article text: pre-publication screening, the quality and originality assessment that decides search indexing, assessment of reports (the article text and the reporter's note), and the optional writing helpers in the editor. No account data is sent.
• Email service provider (AWS SES): Transactional email delivery (password resets, notifications, newsletter)

These providers are bound by their own privacy policies and process data only as necessary to provide their services to us. We do not share your personal data with any provider beyond what is required for Platform operation.

5. Public vs Private Data

The following is always public: your display name, username, profile photo, bio, and the articles and comments you post.

The following is public by default but each item has its own "show on profile" switch in Edit Profile: credentials and, per credential, the membership number and year; location; education; specialization; year of establishment; website; LinkedIn, X, YouTube and Google Business links. Hiding an item also hides any verification mark on it.

The following is private by default and shown only if you opt in via your profile settings: email address, phone number. Even when you opt in, they are shown in full only to logged-in members; visitors who are not logged in see a masked form (for example "+91 98xxx xxxxx"). We record which member viewed which profile's contact details, and limit how many profiles' contact details one member can open per hour, to detect and stop harvesting.

Activity status: Your profile, directory listing and chat header may show a coarse activity label ("Active today" or "Active this week") based on your most recent visit. No exact time is shown, nothing is shown after seven days without a visit, and you can switch the label off in Edit Profile.

6. Data Retention

Your data is retained as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, your profile and content will be removed from public display. Some data may be retained in backups for up to 90 days for operational reasons.

Server logs containing IP addresses and access data are retained for up to 90 days for security and debugging purposes, after which they are automatically purged.

7. Security

We use industry-standard security measures including HTTPS encryption (via Cloudflare), hashed passwords (bcrypt), CSRF protection, rate limiting, and secure server infrastructure on AWS. No method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. You are responsible for keeping your login credentials confidential.

8. Cookies

We use session cookies to keep you logged in and CSRF tokens for security. Google Analytics 4 may set first-party cookies for analytics purposes. We do not use third-party advertising cookies. You can disable cookies in your browser settings, but this may affect login functionality.

9. Disclosure of Information

We may disclose your personal information if required to do so by law, or in good faith belief that such disclosure is necessary to:

• Comply with a legal obligation, court order, or government request
• Protect and defend the rights or property of TaxSocial
• Prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Platform
• Protect the personal safety of users or the public

10. Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Correction: Request correction of inaccurate personal data
• Deletion: Request deletion of your personal data and account
• Portability: Request your data in a machine-readable format

You may exercise these rights by contacting us at [email protected] or WhatsApp +91 99676 07577. You may also delete your account at any time from your profile settings (feature coming soon).

11. Children's Privacy

TaxSocial is not intended for users under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect data from minors. If we become aware that a user under 18 has provided us with personal data, we will take steps to delete such information.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify registered users of significant changes via email or an in-platform notice. Your continued use of the Platform after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

13. Grievance Officer

In accordance with the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the rules made thereunder, the Grievance Officer for the purpose of this Privacy Policy and the Platform is:

Name: K Shaurya (Platform Administrator)
Email: [email protected]
WhatsApp: +91 99676 07577
Response time: We will acknowledge complaints within 24 hours and resolve them within 15 days.

14. Contact

Privacy-related queries: [email protected] or WhatsApp +91 99676 07577.