Local Fans Privacy Notice

Local Fans operates local discovery and community platforms, including LocalFans.

For the purposes of UK data-protection law, the controller is:

Email: hello@localfans.co.uk

This Privacy Notice explains how we collect and use personal information when you use LocalFans and other Local Fans services to which this notice applies.

Depending on how you use the platform, we may collect:

Account information

• your name;
• email address;
• telephone number;
• account type;
• member number;
• profile image;
• account status; and
• notification preferences.

Business-owner information

• your name and contact details;
• your relationship with a business;
• business application and approval information;
• business profile management activity; and
• communications relating to your business account.

Content and activity

We may process information about:

• businesses you save;
• offers you save;
• events you save;
• jobs you save;
• reviews you write;
• review edits or withdrawals;
• business responses to reviews;
• review reports;
• moderation activity relating to your content; and
• interactions with platform features.

Business content

Where you manage a business profile, we may process:

• business contact information;
• business descriptions;
• services;
• locations;
• opening hours;
• logos and images;
• offers;
• events;
• job vacancies; and
• other content you choose to publish.

Some business information may identify an individual, particularly where the business is a sole trader.

Technical and security information

We may collect technical information necessary to operate and secure the service, such as:

• authentication and session information;
• timestamps;
• technical error information;
• security events; and
• device or browser information where generated by the technologies used to provide the platform.

Our Cookie Notice will provide further information about cookies and similar storage or access technologies used by the platform.

We use personal information to:

• create and manage accounts;
• authenticate users;
• complete LocalFan registration;
• process business applications;
• operate business profiles;
• provide Saved features;
• publish and manage reviews and responses;
• moderate content;
• investigate reported reviews or platform abuse;
• send account and service notifications;
• manage notification preferences;
• provide business subscriptions;
• respond to enquiries;
• protect the security and integrity of LocalFans;
• improve and develop the platform;
• maintain appropriate administrative and audit records;
• comply with legal obligations; and
• send marketing where permitted.

We rely on different lawful bases depending on why we use personal information.

Contract

We may process information where necessary to provide an account or business service you have requested and to administer our Terms.

This may include account management and business subscription administration.

Legitimate interests

We may rely on our legitimate interests to:

• operate and improve Local Fans platforms;
• provide relevant local discovery features;
• protect platform security;
• prevent fraud and abuse;
• moderate reviews and other content;
• maintain appropriate administrative records; and
• understand and improve how the service operates.

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we consider the impact on the people whose information we use.

Consent

We may rely on consent for certain activities, including email marketing where consent is required.

You can withdraw consent at any time.

Withdrawal does not make earlier processing unlawful.

Legal obligation

We may process information where necessary to comply with a legal obligation.

Legal claims

Where appropriate, we may process and retain relevant information to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

We may ask whether you would like to receive occasional marketing emails from Local Fans about local businesses, offers, events, jobs and our services.

Where we rely on consent, marketing is optional and choosing not to receive marketing will not prevent you from creating a LocalFan account.

You can unsubscribe at any time using the unsubscribe option in a marketing email or by contacting hello@localfans.co.uk.

We may retain a limited suppression record so that we remember not to send further marketing to an address that has opted out.

Account, security, moderation and important service communications are not marketing and may still be sent where necessary.

Reviews you publish may be visible to other users and visitors.

The platform may display a limited reviewer name, such as a first name and last initial, rather than your full account details.

Your email address and telephone number are not published as part of a review.

Business responses to reviews may also be public.

If content is reported, we may use the review, response, account information and relevant moderation history to investigate the report.

Approved business profiles are publicly available.

Information a business owner chooses to publish may be visible to anyone accessing LocalFans.

Business owners should not publish personal information about employees, customers or other individuals unless they have an appropriate reason and authority to do so.

Anyone may browse publicly available LocalFans content.

You must be at least 13 years old to create your own LocalFans account.

We aim to provide privacy information in clear language.

If we become aware that an account has been created in circumstances where personal information has been processed without an appropriate lawful basis, we may investigate, restrict the account and delete information where appropriate.

Parents, guardians and young people can contact us at hello@localfans.co.uk with privacy questions.

We may share or make information available to service providers that help us operate LocalFans.

These may include providers of:

• cloud hosting and databases;
• authentication;
• email delivery;
• application development and infrastructure;
• error monitoring;
• analytics, where implemented lawfully; and
• payment processing, when paid subscriptions are introduced.

Service providers may process personal information on our behalf under appropriate arrangements.

We may also disclose information:

• where required by law;
• to regulators, courts or law-enforcement authorities where appropriate;
• to establish, exercise or defend legal claims;
• to investigate fraud, security incidents or abuse; or
• as part of a future sale, transfer or restructuring of the Local Fans business, subject to appropriate safeguards.

We do not sell personal information to advertisers.

Some service providers may process personal information outside the United Kingdom.

Where UK data-protection law requires safeguards for an international transfer, we will use an appropriate transfer mechanism or rely on another lawful basis for the transfer.

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and for applicable legal, security and dispute-resolution needs.

In general:

• active account information is kept while the account remains active;
• business information is kept while the business account or listing is active and for a reasonable period afterwards where necessary;
• saved-content records are normally removed when the relevant account is permanently deleted;
• notifications may be retained for a limited operational period;
• moderation and report records may be retained for longer where needed to protect platform integrity or handle disputes;
• marketing consent and suppression records may be retained as evidence of preferences;
• financial records may be retained for periods required by tax and accounting law; and
• security and audit records may be retained for a reasonable period appropriate to their purpose.

We will review retention arrangements as the Local Fans service develops.

We use technical and organisational measures intended to protect personal information.

These include authenticated access, role-based access controls and restricted administrative functions where appropriate.

No online service can guarantee absolute security.

If you believe your LocalFans account or personal information may be at risk, contact hello@localfans.co.uk.

Depending on the circumstances, you may have rights to:

• ask for access to your personal information;
• ask us to correct inaccurate information;
• ask us to delete information;
• ask us to restrict how information is used;
• object to certain processing;
• receive certain information in a portable format; and
• withdraw consent where we rely on consent.

These rights are not absolute and legal exceptions may apply.

To exercise a data-protection right, contact hello@localfans.co.uk.

We may need to verify your identity before responding.

Please contact us first if you have concerns about how we use personal information.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK's data-protection regulator.

Information about raising a data-protection complaint is available from the ICO website.

We may update this Privacy Notice as Local Fans and LocalFans develop.

The current version will be published on the platform with the date it was last updated.

Where appropriate, we may notify registered users of material changes.

Email: hello@localfans.co.uk