Privacy & Data Policy

Introduction

This Privacy Policy explains how Fable Social Inc., a corporation registered in British Columbia, Canada ("Fable Social," "we," "our," or "us"), collects, uses, and shares your information when you use our platform and services. Fable Social is the data controller responsible for your personal information.

Our goal is to be transparent about what information we do and do not collect, and how this information is used. Before we begin, we would like to emphasize the following key points:

• Fable Social does not, and will never, sell your personal information to third parties.
• Fable Social is not affiliated with any school or educational institution, though we provide communities specific to various universities.
• Fable Social will never disclose your identity or anonymous posts unless required by applicable law, court order, subpoena, or where disclosure is reasonably necessary to prevent imminent harm or illegal activity.
• All data is processed in Canada and is subject to Canadian law.

Legal Basis for Processing

We collect and process personal information on the following legal bases:

• Consent: When you create an account and agree to this Privacy Policy, you consent to the collection and use of your information as described herein.
• Contractual necessity: Processing that is necessary to provide you with the services you have requested, such as maintaining your account and delivering platform features.
• Legal obligations: Processing required to comply with applicable laws and regulations.
• Legitimate interests: Processing necessary for our legitimate business interests, such as improving platform safety, preventing abuse, and enhancing service functionality, provided these interests do not override your privacy rights.

Account Creation

To create an account as a university student, you must complete two verification steps:

1. Email Verification: You must verify your university affiliation using one of several available methods, including but not limited to:

   • Clicking an email verification link sent to your university email address
   • Signing in to your school account with Google or Microsoft (OAuth)
   • Confirming an email that is a valid .edu address
   • Submitting proof of enrollment or an acceptance letter (for incoming students)

2. Password Creation: You'll create a secure password for your account.

While no verification system is entirely foolproof, we implement multiple verification methods to help ensure the privacy and integrity of our university communities.

Why Do We Require a School Email?

To ensure the safety of our communities (so that each community is only accessible to verified members of the community), we require users to verify that they are the owner of an email address with the corresponding university domain to their community.

Children and Family

Our services are not directed to children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under 13, we will take steps to delete such information as quickly as possible. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, please contact us.

Content You Create on Fable Social

When you interact with the Fable Social platform, we collect the information and content you create. For example:

• We collect the text and/or image content of your lounge posts and comments
• We collect metadata about these interactions, including the identity of users who communicate with each other

All posts and comments in public areas are publicly displayed. They may be viewed, shared, and interacted with by our users, us, and others. We do not publicly display your real name or email address unless you choose to disclose it. However, please keep in mind that if you include information that could identify you in the text or image of a post, people who see it may determine your identity.

Private messages between users are not posted publicly, but as with any message sent via any service, the recipient might share them. Fable Social has no obligation to keep private any information that you disclose to other users or the public using our platform.

We strongly recommend that you do not post any information through our services that allows strangers to identify or locate you or that you otherwise do not want to share with the public.

Other Information Collected When You Use Fable Social

Usage Information: We collect information about your use of the services, including access times, pages and posts viewed, user and post interactions (e.g., upvotes, downvotes, likes, comments) and other information about your interactions with us, the services, and other users. We use this information to personalize your experience, provide and improve our services, and monitor platform usage.

Information Collected by Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies: Like most websites and applications, we and our service providers use cookies, web beacons, and other technologies to collect information. Cookies are small data files stored on your hard drive or in device memory that help us improve our services and your experience by seeing which areas and features of our services are popular.

Log Information: We collect information in our log files when you use our services. This includes your browser type, language, access times, pages viewed, your IP address, and the URL you visited before navigating to our platform.

Device Information: We may collect device information such as browser type, operating system, and device identifiers where necessary for security, analytics, or service functionality. Our third-party service providers (such as Firebase and analytics tools) may also automatically collect device-related data as part of their standard operation.

Information Shared Outside of Fable Social

When you use our services, certain information may be shared with other users and the public. For example:

• Any post or comment made to public areas of the platform is viewable by others and may include your pseudonym at the time of posting, the content of your post, and the community in which you posted.
• When you use private messaging to directly contact another user, the recipient will see your pseudonym and the contents of your message. The recipient may also choose to disclose your messages to others.

We may also share information as follows or as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy:

• With vendors, consultants, and other service providers who need access to such information to carry out work on our behalf;
• If we believe your actions are inconsistent with our user agreements or policies, or to protect the rights, property, and safety of Fable Social or others;
• In connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business by another company;
• Where required by applicable law, court order, subpoena, or governmental request, or where disclosure is reasonably necessary to prevent imminent harm or illegal activity.

We may also share aggregated or de-identified information, which cannot reasonably be used to identify you.

Social Sharing

Our services may offer social sharing features and other integrated tools, which let you share content with other media. Your use of such features enables the sharing of information with your friends or the public, depending on the settings you establish with the entity that provides the social sharing feature.

Your Account and Content

Your content remains public, if posted publicly, so long as you or we do not delete them from the services. You may choose to delete your individual posts or comments at any time, and we will then remove them from the services. However, it is important to note that your deleted posts may remain in storage in our systems for a limited period of time for legal, business, safety, or system backup reasons, and they may remain accessible in cached and archived pages of the services or elsewhere if others have chosen to copy or save them.

Search engines and other sites may also index and cache content on our services. You may have to contact these third-party sites or search engines directly to delete your cached information, subject to their policies and procedures.

If you wish to delete your account, you can use the account deletion feature in settings from inside the application. You can also request account deletion by contacting our support team. Note that we may retain certain information as required by law, for legitimate business purposes, or for the safety of Fable Social and its users. We may also retain cached or archived copies of information about you for a certain period of time.

Where Information Is Processed

Fable Social is based in Canada, and the information we collect is governed by Canadian law. By accessing or using our services or otherwise providing information to us, you consent to the processing and transfer of information in and to Canada and other countries.

You also agree to abide by applicable law concerning your use of the services and your agreements with us. Any persons accessing the services from any jurisdiction with laws or regulations governing the use of the Internet, including personal data collection, use and disclosure, different from those of the jurisdictions mentioned above may only use the services in a manner lawful in their jurisdiction.

Data Retention

We keep information related to your account for as long as it is needed to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, to provide our services, to deal with possible legal claims, to comply with our business interests, and/or to abide by all applicable laws. Thereafter, we either delete your information or de-identify it. As a general guide:

• Account data (profile, email, preferences): retained until you delete your account.
• Usage logs and analytics: retained for up to 90 days, then aggregated or deleted.
• System backups: retained for up to 30 days after deletion from active systems.
• Content you create (posts, comments, messages): retained until you or we delete them, subject to backup retention periods above.

Please note that even if you request the deletion of personal information, we may be required (by law or otherwise) to retain the personal information and not delete it. However, once those requirements are removed, we will delete personal information in accordance with your request.

Data Security

We understand the importance of privacy and security of personal information to our users and have made them a priority. Fable Social uses a variety of industry-standard security technologies and procedures to help protect personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure, and we train our employees on privacy and security issues.

However, we cannot guarantee that unauthorized third parties will never be able to overcome those measures or use your personal information for improper purposes, and we do not promise that personal information or private communications will be protected from unauthorized disclosure or use.

Third-Party Service Providers

We use third-party service providers who process data on our behalf to deliver and improve our services. These providers are contractually obligated to protect your data and may only use it for the purposes we specify. Categories of providers include:

• Cloud hosting and infrastructure: Google Cloud Platform, Firebase
• Analytics: tools that help us understand usage patterns and improve our services
• Authentication: Firebase Authentication for secure sign-in
• Deployment and delivery: Vercel for frontend hosting

These providers may process data in jurisdictions outside of Canada. We take reasonable steps to ensure that any such transfers are subject to appropriate safeguards.

Data Breach Notification

In the event of a data breach posing a real risk of significant harm to affected individuals, we will notify affected users and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada in accordance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and any other applicable privacy laws. We will provide notification as soon as feasible, including a description of the breach, the types of information involved, and steps individuals can take to reduce potential harm.

Anonymous Content & Safety

Fable Social allows users to post content without displaying their real identity. However, we may internally associate anonymous posts with account identifiers for the purposes of safety, abuse prevention, and compliance with legal obligations. We will not publicly disclose the identity behind anonymous content unless required by applicable law, court order, or where reasonably necessary to prevent imminent harm.

Cookies and Tracking Controls

We use cookies and similar technologies for authentication, security, analytics, and to remember your preferences. You can control cookies through your browser settings. Disabling cookies may affect the functionality of certain features. We do not use cookies for third-party advertising. For more information about the cookies we use, please contact us at contact@fable.social.

Your Rights and Choices

Fable Social is committed to respecting your data rights under applicable privacy laws, including the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), and any other applicable provincial, federal, or international privacy regulations. All users have the following rights regarding their personal data:

• Right to Access: You have the right to request a complete copy of all personal data we hold about you, including account information, activity history, and any data derived from your use of our services. We will respond to access requests within 30 days.
• Right to Correction: You have the right to request that we correct any inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated personal information we hold about you.
• Right to Deletion: You have the right to request the deletion of your personal data at any time. Upon receiving a valid deletion request, we will permanently delete your personal information from our systems within 30 days, except where retention is required by law, necessary to complete a transaction, or needed to detect and prevent fraud or security incidents.
• Right to Data Portability: You have the right to request your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format so that you may transfer it to another service.
• Right to Objection: You have the right to object to our processing of your personal information in certain circumstances, including for direct marketing purposes.
• Right to Withdraw Consent: Where processing is based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out prior to withdrawal.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at contact@fable.social. We will verify your identity before processing any request and will respond within 30 days. All requests are processed free of charge. If we are unable to fulfill a request, we will provide a clear explanation of the reason.

Third-Party Content

Our platform may display links, previews, or embedded content from third-party sources (such as social media posts or websites) to help users discover events, communities, or public information. Fable Social does not claim ownership over any such third-party content, nor do we control its availability or accuracy. All such content remains subject to the copyright, terms of service, and privacy policies of the original platform or creator.

If you are the owner of third-party content displayed on Fable Social and wish to request its removal, please contact us at contact@fable.social and include the URL and proof of ownership. We will review and process removal requests in accordance with applicable law.

Data From Public Sources

In some cases, Fable Social may collect publicly available information (such as event titles, dates, hashtags, or other metadata) from third-party platforms to improve event discovery. We do not collect or process private data from these platforms, nor do we attempt to circumvent any access controls. Our use of such publicly available information is solely for the purpose of enhancing user experience and discovery features on Fable Social.

Unofficial and Externally Sourced Events

Fable Social aggregates publicly available event information from university clubs and organizations to help students discover campus events. Events marked as "unofficial" on our platform have been sourced from publicly available sources (such as public social media posts, public event listings, and public web pages). Fable Social does not claim ownership of any content associated with these events, including but not limited to event posters, images, descriptions, logos, or any other media.

All rights to such content remain with the original creators, clubs, organizations, or rights holders. Fable Social does not endorse, verify, or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of externally sourced event details, including dates, times, locations, or descriptions. Users should always verify event information directly with the organizing club or institution.

If you are the owner or authorized representative of any content displayed on Fable Social and would like it modified or removed, please contact us at contact@fable.social with the relevant details and proof of ownership. We will promptly review and act on all such requests.

Copyright Complaints and Takedown Requests

Fable Social respects the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that content appearing on our platform infringes your copyright or other rights, please send a detailed request to contact@fable.social. Upon receiving a valid notice, we will promptly remove or disable access to the disputed content in accordance with applicable law.

Changes to Our Privacy Policy

Our security and Privacy Policy are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary. This Privacy Policy might change as we update and expand our services. You can tell when this Privacy Policy was last updated by reviewing the Last Updated date at the top of this page. We will endeavor to notify you of material changes by email, but will not be liable for any failure to do so. We also encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically.

If you do not understand any of the terms or conditions of any of our policies, you may inquire regarding the same via email at contact@fable.social. Your continued use of the services after any change in this Privacy Policy will constitute your acceptance of such change.

Contact Information

If you have any questions or comments about this notice, the ways in which we collect and use your information described here, your choices and rights regarding such use, or wish to exercise your rights, please do not hesitate to contact us at:

Email: contact@fable.social