Last Updated: Aug 14, 2023
This Publen Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) describes our policies and procedures on the collection, use, disclosure, and sharing of your personal information when you use the Publen Platform. This Privacy Policy applies to activities by Publen, Inc. and its affiliates and subsidiaries (collectively “Publen,” “we” or “us”). Capitalized terms that are not defined in this Privacy Policy have the meaning given to them in our Terms of Service. Publen Inc. is the data controller of your personal information and is responsible for providing you with this Privacy Policy.
Overview
Information We Collect
We collect information directly from you, from third parties, and automatically through your use of the Publen Platform.
Account and Profile Data. When you create an account and profile on the Publen Platform, we collect your name, email address, and other information you provide, such as topics that you know about or find interesting. You can choose to add your photo, country of residence, place of employment, education history, and any other information to your public-facing profile. Once you create a profile, others will be able to see certain information about your activity on the Publen Platform, such as the questions and answers you post, your followers and who you follow, topics of interest to you, and your credentials.
Your Content. We collect the information and content that you post to the Publen Platform, including your questions, answers, comments, photos, and the edit history to your content. Unless you have posted certain content anonymously, your content, date and time stamps, and all associated comments are publicly viewable on the Publen Platform. Your content may be indexed by search engines and be republished elsewhere on the Internet in accordance with our Terms of Service.
Communication Records. We maintain a record when you communicate with us via email, through the Publen Platform, or otherwise. The Publen Platform also provides a “Messages” feature that allows you to send direct messages through the Publen Platform to other users. We store these communications and information related to these messages, such as the date of the communication and to whom it was sent.
Third Party Application Login. You can log into your Publen account using third party applications (e.g., Facebook, Google, and Apple). When you log in using this method, you allow us to we collect and process your name and email address associated with that third party application for authentication and identity verification purposes. You can also choose to import your contacts to your Publen account to connect with your friends on the Publen Platform. Note that your use of any third party application and the personal data you provide them is governed by their terms of use, privacy policies, and other policies.
Cookies and Similar Technologies. We and our third party providers use cookies, log files, pixel tags, local storage objects, and other similar technologies to automatically collect information about your activities, such as your searches, page views, date and time of your visit, and other information about your use of the Publen Platform. We also collect information about your web browser or mobile device in connection with your use of the Publen Platform such as your browser type, type of computer or mobile device, browser language, IP address, mobile carrier, unique device identifier, and requested and referring URLs. We also receive information when you view content on or otherwise interact with the Publen Platform, even if you have not created an account. For more detailed information about these mechanisms refer to our Cookie Policy.
Billing and Payment Data. We collect billing information if you subscribe to the Publen + Platform, and we collect payment information if you are a paid Publen creator via the Publen Partner Program. Depending on your location, this information may include your billing address, social security number, last four digits of your credit card or debit card, phone number, and email address.
Platform Engagement Data. We collect platform engagement and browsing information, such as IP address, date and time stamp, user agent, Publen cookie ID, URLs visited, unique advertising identifiers (including mobile device advertising identifiers) or content identifiers (if applicable), time zone, and other information about your activity on the Publen Platform. We also collect this information from third-party sites and services that have embedded our Publen Ppixels (“Pixels”), widgets, plug-ins, buttons, or related technologies. Please visit our Publen Pixel Privacy Terms to learn more, including how to opt out. We may also receive these types of information about you from third parties, such as our partners (including ad partners) or Publen affiliates.
Data From Advertisers. Third party advertisers who use our Ad Services may also provide us with information about you as part of their ad campaigns (e.g., email addresses) to create custom audiences for personalizing their ad campaigns or for measuring the effectiveness of their ads. To learn more, including about how to opt -out of certain Ad Services, refer to our Cookie Policy.
How We Use Your Information and Legal Basis for Processing
We process the information we collect for the following purposes, and under the following legal basis. You may decline to submit personal information through the Publen Platform, in which case we may not be able to provide certain services to you.
Provide our Services. To provide you the services we offer on the Publen Platform and make the Publen Platform available to the public, communicate with you about your use of the Publen Platform, respond to your inquiries, provide troubleshooting, and for other customer service purposes. This is so we can comply with our contractual obligations to you.
Personalization. To tailor the content and information that we or our third party content publishers or advertisers may send or display to you in the Publen Platform. We also use your information to suggest followers and content, to help others find your profile, to offer location customization, and personalized help and instructions, and to otherwise personalize your experiences while using the Publen Platform. It is in our legitimate business interests to provide you with a customized experience.
Billing and Payment. To collect payments (for example, if you are a Publen+ subscriber) and pay our service providers and content creators. This information is collected so that we can comply with our contractual obligations to you.
Advertising. To display interest-based, retargeted, contextual, and behavioral advertising to you in the Publen Platform. We also may use your information, to improve our advertising and measurement systems so we can show you relevant ads and to measure the effectiveness and reach of ads and services. It is in our legitimate business interests to provide advertising. Where necessary, we will obtain your consent before engaging in this processing.
Marketing and Promotions. For marketing and promotional purposes, such as to send you news, special offers, promotions, or to otherwise contact you about products or information we think may interest you, including information about third-party products and services. It is in our legitimate interest to provide more relevant and interesting marketing and promotions messages. Where applicable, we obtain your consent before sending such marketing communications and you can unsubscribe anytime.
Enable Communications. To facilitate communications you send to us or to other users on the Publen Platform. We process information about who you have communicated with to better understand the use of our services. This processing is necessary to comply with our contractual obligations to you.
Analytics. To gather analytics and metrics to better understand how users use the Publen Platform. We also use analytics data to evaluate and improve the Publen Platform, including the Ad Services and personalization, and to develop new products and services. It is in our legitimate business interests to make informed decisions about product development.
Comply with Law. To comply with legal obligations, as part of our general business operations, and for other business administration purposes. This processing is necessary to comply with legal obligations and to serve our legitimate business interests in complying with the laws to which we are subject.
Prevent Fraud and Misuse. To investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person or violations of our Terms of Service or this Privacy Policy. This processing is necessary to comply with legal obligations and to serve our legitimate interest in preventing misuse of the Publen platform, including through illegal activities and fraud.
User Research. We may ask you to help us test new features or participate in surveys to help enhance your Publen experience. Your participation is voluntary, and we may use your personal information to communicate with you to seek your feedback.
How We Share Your Information
We share your information as outlined below, and where users have asked us to do so or otherwise consented:
Service Providers. We share your information with third-party service providers who use this information to perform services for us, such as payment processors, hosting providers, auditors, advisors, consultants, customer service providers, as well as service providers who assist us in providing the Ad Services. Key service providers we use include Amazon Web Services, Stripe, Zendesk, and Google.
Publen Affiliates. The information collected about you may be accessed by or shared with affiliates of Publen, Inc., whose use and disclosure of your personal information is subject to this Privacy Policy.
Business Transfers. We may disclose or transfer your information as part of any merger, sale, and transfer of our assets, acquisition or restructuring of all or part of our business, bankruptcy, or similar event.
Protection of Rights and When Legally Required. We may disclose information where we are required to do so by law, where we believe it necessary to respond to claims asserted against us or, comply with legal process (e.g., subpoenas or warrants), enforce or administer our agreements and terms, for fraud prevention, risk assessment, investigation, and protect the rights, property, or safety of Publen, its users, or others.
Your Content and Public Information. Your content, including your name, profile picture, profile information, and certain associated activity information is available to other users of the Publen Platform and may also be viewed publicly by non users. Public viewing includes availability to non-registered visitors and users may share your content across other sites. In addition, your content may be indexed by search engines. See the section below about Your Choices and Settings for information about how to control what information is shared or viewed by others.
Platform Engagement Information. We share with our advertisers and publishers aggregate statistics, metrics, and reports about the performance of their ads in the Publen Platform. This aggregated data may include the number of unique user views, demographics about the users who saw their ads or content, and conversion rates. Certain features allow you to share your personal information with advertisers on our platform if you choose to do so.
Research. We share aggregated or anonymized information with third parties for market research, reporting, and analytics. The information we share in this context cannot be used to identify individual users.
Do-Not-Track Signals. Please note we do not change system behavior within the Publen Platform in response to browser requests not to be tracked. You may, however, disable certain tracking by third parties as discussed in our Cookie Policy.
How We Secure and Store Your Information
Security. Publen maintains appropriate technical, administrative, and physical safeguards to protect the information we collect from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, destruction, and altercation.
Retention. We keep your personal information for as long as we have a relationship with you. Once our relationship with you has come to an end, we will retain your personal information for a period of time that enables us to maintain business records for audit purposes, comply with record retention requirements under the law, and defend or bring any existing or potential legal claims.
Your Choices and Settings
You can update your privacy settings, control the types of notifications and communications we send, and limit the information shared within the Publen Platform anytime. Here is further information about your choices and settings.
Your Content. You may edit or delete the answers that you post at any time. Any questions you have posted may remain on the Quora Platform. Other Quora users will be able to see the history of your content edits in your profile activity. Any deleted content will be removed from third-party sites from which it has been shared via Quora’s standard sharing features. However, we have no control over deletions or changes to your content if it has been shared manually by others.
Emails and Notifications. When you create a Quora profile you will receive email digests containing content from the Quora Platform that we believe may match your interests. You may also receive notices about other content from the Quora Platform that may be of interest to you, such as Spaces that you follow. In addition, users may be able to send communications and invites to their imported contacts through their Quora account, by email, text, or phone. You can opt out of receiving emails or other notifications from us by configuring your Emails and Notifications settings, but we will still send you transactional emails about your account.
Interactions with Other Users. You can adjust your settings to restrict who can send you messages on the Quora Platform or comment on your answers and posts.
Profile Discoverability. You can adjust your settings to block others from discovering your account by searching for your name or using your contact information.
Topics and Spaces. You can change Topics and Spaces that you are affiliated with within your profile.
Credentials. You can change your credentials (e.g., education history, place of employment) that are displayed in your profile or in connection with a specific answer.
Indexed Search. You can control whether your profile is indexed by search engines.
Deleted Account. If you choose to “Delete Account” in your profile settings, then all your content will be removed from public visibility on the Quora Platform, and it may not be restored by us. It may take Quora up to 14 days to process your account deletion request, and if you log back into your account during that time, your account may be reactivated.
Deactivated Account. If you choose “Delete Account” in your profile’s settings, then all your content will be removed from public visibility on the Quora Platform, and it may not be restored by us. If you choose to “Deactivate Account,” in your profile settings, then you will no longer receive any communications from us, and users will not be able to interact with you; however, your content will remain on the Quora Platform. You can reactivate your account at any time by logging in.
Opt out of Training LLMs. You can opt out of having your content on Quora (i.e. your answers, posts, and comments) used for Large Language Model (LLM) training purposes via your privacy settings.
Opt out of Targeted Advertising. Depending on your location you may have the right to opt out of having your personal information shared or used for targeted advertising. Please visit the “Your Privacy Choices” link on our site to learn more.
Children’s Privacy
We do not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from anyone under the age of 13 or knowingly allow such persons to create a Quora account. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 13 we take steps to delete that account.
Privacy Policy Updates
We may occasionally update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in our privacy practices or relevant data protection laws. We will notify you if we make any material changes and will revise the "Last Updated" date at the top of this Privacy Policy.