Privacy Policy

Who we are

Lesbian Chat (“we”, “us”) is an independent project that runs the website chatwithlesbians.online. We decide how and why your personal information is used, which makes us responsible for it. You can reach us at any time using the details in the “Contact and grievance officer” section below.

Information we collect

We collect the following information when you use Lesbian Chat:

• Account details. Your email address and password. Your password is handled by our authentication provider and stored in hashed form.
• Profile. Your anonymous username, illustrated avatar and colour tone, the date you joined and your verification status.
• Verification data. A live selfie image, data from a short liveness check (a simple movement), the result of the age check and the outcome of your verification.
• Matching preferences. The interests, language, vibe and age range you choose when looking for a chat.
• Chat content. The messages, emojis and GIFs you send, and basic details about each chat, such as the two members, when it happened and whether it has ended.
• Reports and safety information. Reports and blocks you make, the reason you give and related content.
• Support messages. Anything you send us through the support chat or by email.
• Technical information. Your IP address and the general location it suggests, browser and device type, pages visited, and error logs.

What we do not collect:

• Your real name, phone number or home address
• Payment details (we do not take payments today)
• Your contacts or social media accounts
• Your precise GPS location

Please do not share personal details such as your real name or contact information with other members in chat.

Sensitive information and your selfie

Some of the information involved in using Lesbian Chat is sensitive, and we treat it with extra care:

• Your selfie and liveness check. To verify that you are a real person and 18 or older, we ask for a live selfie and a short movement. This can count as biometric information in some places. We use it only for verification. It is never shown to other members.
• Information that can reveal your orientation. Lesbian Chat is a space for lesbian, bi and queer women, so the fact that you use it may reveal or suggest your sexual orientation or gender identity. We never ask you to state it, we never sell or share it for advertising, and we use it only to run the service for you. By creating an account you give your explicit consent to this processing.

If you do not want us to process this information, please do not create an account.

How we use your information

• Create and manage your account and anonymous identity
• Verify that you are a real person and 18 or older
• Match you with other members and run your chats
• Keep the community safe: preventing bots, fake profiles, harassment and abuse, and acting on reports
• Respond to your support requests and messages
• Keep our service secure, fix errors and improve how it works
• Meet our legal obligations and protect our rights

Our legal bases

Where the law asks us to explain why we are allowed to use your information, we rely on:

• Contract. We need your information to provide the service you signed up for.
• Consent. For your verification selfie and the sensitive information described above, we rely on your explicit consent, which you give when you sign up. You can withdraw it at any time by contacting us, although we may then be unable to keep your account.
• Legitimate interests. Keeping the community safe, preventing fraud and abuse, and securing our service.
• Legal obligation. Where the law requires us to keep or share certain information.

Who we share it with

• Other members. They see your username, avatar and the messages you send them in a chat.
• Service providers that run Lesbian Chat for us: our database, sign-in and file storage provider (Supabase), our hosting and security provider (Cloudflare), email delivery providers that send you confirmation emails, the services that run the selfie, liveness and age checks, and our support chat provider (Tawk.to). They may only use your information to provide their service to us.
• Authorities and safety. When required by law, or when needed to protect the safety of our members or others.
• Business changes. If Lesbian Chat is ever merged with or taken over by another organisation, we will tell you first and your information stays protected by this policy.
• We never sell your personal data and we do not share it with advertisers.

International transfers

Our service providers may process your information in countries other than the one you live in, including India and the United States. Where this happens, we only work with providers that apply appropriate safeguards to protect your information.

Cookies and similar technologies

• Essential. We store a sign-in session in your browser so you stay logged in, and our security provider may use cookies to protect the site from abuse.
• Support chat. Our support chat widget, shown only on our public pages, uses cookies to remember your conversation.
• No advertising cookies. We do not use cookies to show you ads or to follow you around the web.

You can control cookies in your browser settings. Blocking essential cookies or storage may stop you from staying signed in.

How long we keep it

• Account information: for as long as your account is active.
• Verification selfie: We keep your verification selfie only for as long as needed to run and secure the verification process.
• Chat messages: for as long as needed to provide the chat feature and to investigate safety reports.
• Reports and safety records: for as long as needed to keep the community safe and to prevent banned users from returning.
• After you ask us to delete your account: we aim to delete your personal data within 30 days, except what we must keep to meet legal obligations or keep our community safe.

Your rights and choices

• Everyone: you can ask us to access, correct or delete your information, to restrict or object to how we use it, to withdraw your consent, and to receive a copy of your data.
• India: under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, you have the right to access information about your data, to correct and erase it, to have your grievances addressed and to nominate another person to exercise your rights.
• European Economic Area and UK: you also have the right to data portability and to complain to your local data protection authority.
• California and other US states: you can ask what we collect, and to delete or correct it. We do not sell or share your personal information for advertising, and we will never treat you differently for using your rights.

To use any of these rights, including deleting your account and data, email us at REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_EMAIL from the address on your account. We may ask you to confirm who you are first. We aim to reply within 7 days and to complete your request within 30 days.

Children

Lesbian Chat is only for people who are 18 or older, and our verification includes an age check. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe someone under 18 is using Lesbian Chat, please report them in the app or email us, and we will remove their information.

Security

We protect your information with encrypted connections (HTTPS), access-controlled storage and secure sign-in. No online service is completely secure, so please keep your password private. If a security incident affects your information, we will tell you and the relevant authorities as required by law.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We will change the “last updated” date above, and if the changes are important we will let you know in the app or by email.

Contact and grievance officer

For privacy questions, requests or complaints, contact our privacy and grievance officer:

• Name: REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_NAME
• Email: REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_EMAIL

See also our community rules and safety page and our FAQ.