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Privacy Policy

Effective: 9 July 2026

Marginalia Club (“we”, “us”) operates marginaliaclub.in and related services. This policy describes what data we collect, why, and how we protect it. We collect only what we need. We do not sell your data.

1. What we collect

Account data

When you register, we collect your email address, display name, username, and date of birth (used only to confirm you meet our 18+ age requirement — see §7). If you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email, and profile photo from Google. Phone OTP sign-in collects your phone number.

Content you publish

Stories, drafts, author notes, profile bios, and comments you create on the platform are stored and, if published, made publicly accessible.

Reading behaviour

We record which stories you have read, time spent reading, and bookmarks, so we can personalise your feed and restore your reading history across devices.

Reactions and follows

When you react to or follow an author, we store that association to notify the author and to shape your discovery feed.

Device and usage data

Standard server logs capture your IP address, browser type, and pages visited. We use this only for security and to diagnose errors.

Payment information

Marginalia Club does not currently offer any paid features, so we do not collect or process any payment information. If we introduce a paid membership in future, this policy will be updated first to describe exactly what payment data is collected and by whom.

2. How we use your data

  • Authenticate you and keep your account secure.
  • Display your published content and personalise your feed.
  • Send notifications about authors and stories you follow (within our notification budget).
  • Detect and prevent spam and policy violations.
  • Generate reading and writing statistics visible on your profile.
  • Improve the platform and diagnose technical issues.

We do not use your data for advertising targeting or sell it to third parties.

3. Third-party services

We use the following services. Each has its own privacy policy.

  • Supabase — authentication and database hosting. Your account credentials are managed by Supabase.
  • Cloudinary — media storage for images you upload (profile photo, cover images).
  • Google AI (Gemini Flash) — used to suggest story tags and assist with comment moderation. Content sent to Gemini is not stored by Google for model training under our API agreement.
  • Groq — used as an AI fallback when Gemini is unavailable. The same data-handling principles apply.
  • Vercel — web hosting. Vercel processes request logs on our behalf.

We do not currently use any payment processor, since no paid features are offered. If we add in-app purchases (Apple/Google) or a web payment provider in future, they will be listed here before launch.

4. Cookies and storage

We use essential cookies only — for session management (keeping you signed in) and your theme preference (light / dark / sepia). We do not use advertising trackers or third-party analytics cookies. Theme preference stored in local storage never leaves your device.

5. Data retention

Your account data is retained while your account is active. If you request deletion of your account, we will delete your personal data within 90 days. Deleted stories are permanently removed within 30 days. Anonymised or aggregated analytics (e.g. total read counts) may be retained longer as they cannot be linked back to you.

6. Your rights under India's DPDP Act 2023

Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, you have the right to:

  • Access your personal data that we hold.
  • Correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
  • Erase your personal data (subject to legal retention obligations).
  • Withdraw consent for processing where consent is the legal basis.
  • Nominate a representative to exercise these rights on your behalf in the event of your death or incapacity.

To exercise these rights, email privacy@marginaliaclub.in. We will respond within the timeframes required by law.

7. Age requirement

Marginalia Club is restricted to users aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18, and we do not offer a parental-consent pathway for younger users. If we learn that an account belongs to someone under 18, we will close it and delete the associated personal data.

8. Changes to this policy

If we make material changes, we will update the “Effective” date above and, for significant changes, notify registered users by email. Continued use after a change constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

9. Contact

Questions about this policy: privacy@marginaliaclub.in