PRIVACY & GDPR NOTICE

What we collect

• Account details: email address, password (stored encrypted, never in readable form), username and display name.
• Profile details: bio, avatar image, the sports, teams, clubs and players you follow.
• Content you create: posts, comments, likes, reposts, photos, match-thread messages, match polls and votes.
• Usage data needed to run the service: recent searches (kept in your own browser), notification records, story feedback (interested / not interested) and report submissions.
• Technical data: IP address, device and browser information and log records, used for security, abuse prevention and diagnostics.

We do not ask for special category data (such as health, religion or political opinions), and Sportly is not the place to post it.

Why we use it, and our legal basis

• To provide your account, feed, notifications and match threads - performance of our contract with you.
• To personalise your feed based on the sports, teams and players you choose - performance of our contract with you.
• To keep Sportly sport-only and safe, including automated relevance checks and handling reports - our legitimate interests in a safe, on-topic community and compliance with legal obligations.
• To secure the service and prevent abuse, spam and fraud - our legitimate interests.
• To measure usage and to show relevant advertising through optional cookies - your consent, which you can withdraw at any time.
• To respond to legal requests and enforce our terms - legal obligation and legitimate interests.

Automated checks

Posts and comments are automatically screened for sport relevance before publishing, and reported content is re-screened. This can result in content being blocked or removed. It does not produce decisions with legal effects about you, and you can rewrite and repost, or contact us to ask a human to review a decision.

Who we share it with

We don't sell your personal data. We share it only with service providers who process it on our instructions, under contract:

• Our hosting, database, authentication and file-storage provider, which stores your account, content and uploads.
• An AI provider used solely to classify whether a post or comment is sport related.
• Email delivery for sign-in and account emails.
• Advertising and analytics providers, only where you have consented to optional cookies.

Some providers operate outside the UK/EEA. Where that happens, transfers are covered by approved safeguards such as the UK International Data Transfer Addendum or the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.

Anything you post publicly on Sportly - posts, comments, your profile and your fan ranking - is visible to other users and may be visible to anyone with the link.

How long we keep it

• Posts, comments and likes: cleared roughly every 90 days, and you can download an archive from your profile beforehand.
• Sportly Wire news stories: removed after 7 days.
• Match-thread messages: removed shortly after the event finishes.
• Account and profile data: kept while your account is open, then permanently deleted when you close it (Edit profile → Delete account). Deletion is immediate and cannot be undone.
• Security and log records: kept for a short period for abuse prevention, then deleted.

Your rights

• Access - get a copy of the data we hold about you.
• Rectification - correct anything inaccurate; you can edit most of it in your profile.
• Erasure - delete your account and content yourself at any time from Edit profile → Delete account, or ask us to do it for you.
• Portability - download your posts as a file from your profile at any time.
• Restriction and objection - ask us to pause or stop certain uses, including those based on legitimate interests.
• Withdraw consent - change your cookie choices at any time; withdrawal doesn't affect earlier processing.
• Complain - to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) or your local EU supervisory authority.

To exercise any of these, email contact@sportlysocial.com or use our Contact page. We respond within one month.

Children

Sportly is not for children under 13, or under 16 where local law requires that age for consent. If we learn an account belongs to a child below the applicable age, we close it.

Security and changes

Data is stored on managed infrastructure with encryption in transit, access controls and row-level rules so fans can only reach their own private data. Uploaded photos are stored in private buckets accessible only through signed links. No system is perfectly secure, so please use a strong, unique password.

We'll update this notice as Sportly changes and will flag significant changes in the app. See also the Cookie Policy and Terms of Service.