Hostify (Pty) Ltd (we, our or Hostify) is committed to respecting and protecting your privacy. We comply with all applicable requirements following the Protection of Personal Information Act ("POPIA") and all other relevant data protection laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

This privacy policy explains how Hostify collects, uses, and shares your personal information, how we ensure the privacy and protection of this information, and your data protection rights in connection with our website, our related services, and Socialfy, our social media management platform (available at socialfy.hostify.co.za).

Please read this policy to ensure that you fully appreciate the purpose of Hostify's processing of your personal information.

We may collect and process the following information:

- Your contact information, including your name and email address when you get in contact through our website

- Detailed information about your computer or device, browser type, IP address, and browsing activity when interacting on our website

- When you participate in any blog we may operate on our website, including the information you provide in any communication

- If you register an account for access to a Hostify secure area, we will capture your name, postal address, telephone number, email address, passport details, and other security information

- Any additional personal information that you may provide to Hostify, from time to time if you contact us by email, letter, or telephone, through the Hostify website, or by any other means

- When you use Socialfy, the profile information of the social media accounts you connect (such as your username, display name, and avatar), and the content you create, schedule or publish through Socialfy (posts, captions, images and videos)

The personal information collected may be used to:

- Provide our website hosting services that you have requested

- Provide the Socialfy service, including connecting your social media accounts, displaying your channels, and drafting, scheduling and publishing content

- Manage our relationship with you, which may include notifying you about changes to the Hostify service

- Support the account registration process and usage

- Request that you take a Hostify survey or leave a review

- Reply to queries from you and third parties and queries from law enforcement agencies following relevant laws

- Evaluate the usefulness of advertising Hostify may provide to you

- Satisfy our legal obligations and contractual responsibilities

- Allow Hostify to establish, exercise, or defend our lawful rights and legal claims

The personal information collected and processed by Hostify will be limited to the purposes specified in the privacy policy.

The ways in which we may obtain and process your personal information include:

- When you communicate with Hostify through our website, including completing contact forms

- Through the use of cookies as you interact with the Hostify website

- When you communicate with Hostify by email, phone, post, and mail

- When you take a Hostify survey

- When you sign up for our newsletter

- When you submit feedback on our website and website hosting services

- Interacting with us through any social media channels we use

- Via our direct marketing campaigns

- Information Hostify may receive from external third parties and gain from publicly available sources

- When you connect a social media account to Socialfy, through the platform's official APIs and the permissions you grant to us on that platform

Hostify will only ever process your personal information where we have a legal basis that includes the following:

- Where Hostify has requested you to provide consent to process your data for a particular purpose. This includes when you connect a social media account to Socialfy and when you approve a post for publication.

- The processing of your information is required by Hostify to satisfy a contractual arrangement that we have agreed with you.

- Where Hostify relies on our legitimate interests as a purpose for processing, but only if we have a compelling reason and there is negligible effect on your rights and freedoms.

- If Hostify has a statutory or other legal obligation to process your information to comply with any applicable law.

Hostify may share personal information with third parties for the following purposes:

- Third-party providers that support Hostify operate our business, including providers of analytics, technology services, marketing, advertising, data storage, and hosting

- Third-party payment partners, we use to process payments you make for a Hostify web hosting service

- Law enforcement agencies, credit reference agencies, and regulators, to meet Hostify's legal responsibilities and process requests or orders received from those bodies

- Courts, legal counsels, or other parties, where required by Hostify, and in respect of legal proceedings, claims, and complaints in this context

- Where Hostify is sold or amalgamated with another organisation, our advisers and any potential purchaser's adviser, and the new owners of the business

- The social media platforms you connect to Socialfy (such as TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or X), where you have directed us to publish content and only to the extent of the permissions you granted on those platforms

Your confidentiality is of the highest importance to Hostify. We will not sell your information to third parties.

Socialfy is Hostify's social media management platform, available at socialfy.hostify.co.za. When you connect a social media account (such as TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or X) to Socialfy, we access that account only to the extent you have authorised, using the official APIs and the permissions granted by you and the platform.

What we process: your connected social account profile information (name, username, avatar), and the content you create, schedule or publish through Socialfy (posts, captions, images and videos). Access tokens are stored securely and are used only to deliver the services you request.

How we use it: to display your connected channels, draft and schedule posts, and publish content. Every post is reviewed and approved by you before it is published - Socialfy does not post automatically without your approval. We do not sell or share your content or personal information for advertising or any other purpose.

Your content remains yours. Deleting a connected account or removing content through Socialfy removes it from our platform, subject to platform API limitations and our legal obligations. Data security and retention follow the standards described in this policy.

Cookies are small text files containing a string of characters that the Hostify website places on your computer or device when you use our website. Hostify uses cookies to help users browse our website effectively and perform certain functions.

You can disable cookies, though this may limit the functionality of the Hostify website.

You can find more details on how we use cookies, how you may control, disable or delete cookies by reviewing our Cookie Policy.

Hostify may process your personal information for marketing activities, where you have given consent and opted in. If you wish to opt-out of such communications in the future, you can do so at any time by contacting us at hello@hostify.co.za.

Hostify takes data privacy and your personal information very seriously. We ensure that appropriate security measures are taken based on the sensitivity of the data and regularly review these measures to ensure they remain adequate.

Our security measures include the use of SSL software to encrypt data transmission. Access tokens and account connections within Socialfy are stored securely and accessed only as needed to provide the service. Furthermore, we will never obtain your payment information through our website or other means. When making a payment for a Hostify website hosting service, you will be directed to a secure page on the website of our third-party payment provider to complete your purchase.

Hostify will not retain your personal information for longer than is necessary for the purpose it was collected, which means it will be destroyed when it is no longer needed. However, we will retain the information that forms a part of our business records for at least six years to meet legal and regulatory requirements.

Socialfy data (including connected account connections and scheduled content) is retained while your account or channel connection remains active and is removed when you disconnect a channel, delete the content, or request deletion, subject to platform API limitations and our legal obligations.

In some cases, Hostify may anonymise your personal information for research or statistical purposes (meaning it is no longer associated with you), in which case Hostify may use this information indefinitely, without notice.

We want your experience of the Hostify website to be as informative as possible. We may include appropriate links to websites operated by third parties on our website. However, Hostify does not have control over these sites, nor do we assume any responsibility. We suggest that you read the privacy policy of each website you visit before submitting any personal information through these websites.

Hostify website hosting services are not for individuals under the age of 18 years of age. We do not intentionally collect, retain, or target information about children.

Under POPIA, and other applicable data protection regulations, including the GDPR, you have certain data protection rights, including your right to ask us to provide copies of personal information we may hold about you and that we correct any inaccuracies or complete any incomplete personal data. These rights apply to your personal information held by Hostify, including information held in connection with your Socialfy account.

You may request that we erase your personal information in certain circumstances.

In specific situations, you can request that Hostify restrict or suppress the processing of your data.

Where Hostify has requested and gained your consent for processing your information, you have the right to withdraw your consent. This includes withdrawing the connection of a social media account in Socialfy.

In certain circumstances, you have the right to object to the processing of your personal information, unless Hostify can demonstrate we have a compelling purpose to continue processing.

You can inform us that you wish to opt-out of marketing communications.

Furthermore, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator where you perceive any alleged infringements of your data protection rights or laws have occurred.

If you wish to make a request to Hostify, please see the "Contact us" section for our contact details.

South Africa residents: Hostify may transfer your information to places outside South Africa to provide you with our services effectively and efficiently. We will only transfer your information outside of South Africa where suitable levels of protection are in place to ensure the privacy and security of your personal information and appropriate security measures followed that comply with POPIA and all other applicable privacy and data protection laws.

Non-South African residents: If you are accessing our services from a place external to South Africa, you should be aware that your information may be transferred outside of the place you are located in, and following the data transfer process specified for South African residents.

Hostify may make changes to this policy when needed, for example, compliance with legislative changes.

You should frequently review this policy to remain up to date with any changes.

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or want to exercise any of your rights, please contact us at hello@hostify.co.za.