Privacy Policy
Last updated: October 22, 2026
This Privacy Policy explains what personal data ptchat.org (“the Site”, “we”, “us”) collects, why, how long it is kept, and what rights you have. We are committed to complying with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and French data protection law.
1. Who is responsible for your data
The Site is operated by a private individual:
- Data controller: Vitor “Teh PeGaSuS” Luis
- Country: France
- Contact for anything privacy-related: support@ptchat.org
The Site is a non-commercial community. We do not sell your data, show ads, or use your data for profiling or automated decision-making.
2. What we collect
2.1 Information you give us
- Account data: your username, email address, and password. Passwords are stored as a one-way hash; we cannot see them.
- Optional profile information: anything you choose to add to your profile after registering (for example an avatar, a bio, or other profile fields). Registration only requires a username and an email address.
- Content you post: posts, comments, reactions, polls and poll votes, and anything you share in groups.
- Connections and memberships: friends, followers and people you follow, and the groups you join or manage.
- Private messages: messages you send through the Site’s messaging feature. Messages are stored on our server so they can be delivered and shown to you and the recipients. They are not end-to-end encrypted (see section 7).
- Communications with us: emails or reports you send us.
2.2 Information collected automatically
- Server logs: when you visit the Site, our web servers record your IP address, the date and time, the page requested, your browser’s user agent, and the referring page. We use these logs for security, to prevent abuse, and to fix technical problems.
- Cookies: see section 6.
2.3 Information we do not collect
We do not use analytics or tracking tools, advertising networks, or social media tracking pixels.
3. Why we use your data and on what legal basis
| Purpose | Data used | Legal basis (GDPR art. 6) |
|---|---|---|
| Creating and running your account, displaying your content, delivering messages, notifications | Account data, profile, content, connections, messages | Performance of our agreement with you (the Terms of Service) |
| Sending service emails (account confirmation, password reset, notifications you enabled) | Email address, username | Performance of our agreement with you |
| Keeping the Site secure, preventing spam and abuse, enforcing the Terms | Server logs, IP addresses, account data, reported content | Our legitimate interest in running a safe community |
| Answering your requests and reports | Your messages to us, related account data | Our legitimate interest / legal obligation |
| Complying with the law, such as responding to valid requests from authorities | Whatever data the request concerns | Legal obligation |
4. Who can see your data
- Other users: your username, profile, and public posts are visible to other users (and, depending on the Site’s and your privacy settings, to visitors). Content posted in groups is visible according to that group’s privacy settings. Private messages are visible only to their participants.
- Administrators and moderators can access data stored on the Site as needed to run it, handle reports, and enforce the Terms of Service.
- GIPHY: if you use the GIF feature, your browser connects directly to GIPHY to search for and display GIFs. GIPHY receives your IP address, browser information, and your search terms, and processes them under its own privacy policy. This may involve a transfer of data outside the EU. If you don’t use the GIF feature, no data is sent to GIPHY on your behalf, although GIFs other users have posted are loaded from GIPHY’s servers when you view them.
- The Universo mobile app (PeepSo): you can optionally use the Site through Universo, a free app published by PeepSo on the Apple App Store and Google Play. The app displays the Site, so your account and content stay on our servers as described in this policy. However, the app itself is operated by PeepSo, which processes data related to your use of the app (for example device and app information) under its own privacy policy. The free version of the app shows a small ad area promoting PeepSo’s own products. When you use the app, the Site records that you accessed it through the app, your device type (iOS or Android), and when you last used it. We use this only to understand how the community is accessed. If you don’t use the app, none of this applies.
- Authorities: we may disclose data when the law requires it.
We use no other third-party services that receive your personal data:
- The Site is self-hosted on servers we operate in France.
- Emails are sent from our own mail server.
- Cloudflare is our domain registrar and DNS provider. It currently runs in DNS-only mode: Cloudflare resolves the domain name, but your traffic goes directly to our servers, and Cloudflare does not proxy or see it. If we enable Cloudflare’s proxy (CDN and protection) in the future, your requests to the Site, including your IP address and the pages you visit, would pass through Cloudflare’s network, which may involve transfers outside the EU. We would update this policy before doing so.
5. How long we keep your data
| Data | Retention |
|---|---|
| Account, profile, connections | Until you delete your account |
| Posts, comments, polls, group content, private messages | Until you delete them or your account. When you delete your account, your content is removed. |
| Server logs | [30 days] |
| Backups | Deleted data may remain in backups for up to 30 days before being overwritten |
| Data we are legally required to keep | As long as the law requires (for example, French law may require hosting providers to keep certain identification data for a limited period) |
6. Cookies
The Site only uses cookies that are strictly necessary for it to work:
- Login and session cookies set by WordPress and PeepSo, which keep you signed in and protect your account (for example
wordpress_logged_in_*,wordpress_sec_*,wordpress_test_cookie). - Preference cookies that remember choices you make on the Site.
Because these cookies are essential, French and EU rules do not require your consent for them, and we don’t show a cookie banner. We do not use advertising, analytics, or tracking cookies. When you view or search GIFs, GIPHY may set its own cookies; see GIPHY’s privacy policy.
7. Security
We protect your data with:
- HTTPS on every page
- hashed passwords
- servers we administer ourselves, kept up to date with security patches
- regular backups
Please note:
- Private messages are not end-to-end encrypted. They are stored on our server, and administrators could technically access them. We only do so when needed to handle a report, investigate abuse, or comply with the law. Don’t use the Site to share highly sensitive information.
- No system is perfectly secure. If a data breach is likely to put your rights at risk, we will notify you and the CNIL as the GDPR requires.
8. Your rights
Under the GDPR you have the right to:
- Access the personal data we hold about you
- Rectify inaccurate data (most of it you can edit yourself in your profile and account settings)
- Erase your data. You can delete your account yourself from your account settings, which removes your account and your content.
- Restrict or object to certain processing, including processing based on our legitimate interest
- Data portability: receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format. Where available, you can download it from your account settings.
- Give instructions about what happens to your data after your death (a right specific to French law)
To exercise any of these rights, email support@ptchat.org. We will answer within one month. We may ask you to confirm your identity, for example by writing from the email address linked to your account.
If you believe we have not handled your data properly, you can lodge a complaint with the French data protection authority, the CNIL (www.cnil.fr), or with the supervisory authority of your country of residence.
9. Age requirement
You must be at least 16 years old to create an account. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 16. If you believe a person under 16 has registered, contact us and we will delete the account.
10. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy, for example when we add or remove a feature. We will change the “Last updated” date above. If a change significantly affects how we use your data, we will inform registered users through the Site or by email before it takes effect.
11. Contact
For any question about this policy or your data, contact Vitor “Teh PeGaSuS” Luis at support@ptchat.org.