Updated August 2, 2026
Privacy Policy
Parley ("Parley," "we," "us") is a platform where you vote Yay or Nay on topics people are arguing about, earn a reputation score called your Parley Rating, and see where you stand against the crowd. This policy explains what we collect, why, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and the rights you have over it.
1. Who is responsible for your data
Parley is the data controller for the information described in this policy. You can reach us about any privacy matter at privacy@myparley.co.
If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom and are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority (in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office).
2. Information we collect
- •Account information: your email address and username, and any display name, bio, or avatar you add.
- •Your opinions: which topics you vote on, how you voted (Yay/Nay), when you voted, comments you post, and topics you suggest.
- •Optional demographics: age range, gender, country, region, postal code, household income, education, employment status, and industry. Every one of these is optional.
- •Optional sensitive information: your self-described race or ethnicity. This is optional and requires your separate explicit consent (see section 4).
- •Reputation and activity data: your Parley Rating, accuracy and influence scores, tier, points, streaks, badges, follows, and referrals.
- •Technical and usage data: device and browser information, IP address (from which we derive approximate location), pages viewed, and product interactions.
- •Cookies and similar technologies: strictly necessary cookies to keep you signed in and secure, and — where you consent — analytics cookies.
3. Why we use it, and our legal basis
If you are in the EEA or UK, the GDPR requires us to have a lawful basis for each purpose. Here is ours, purpose by purpose.
| What we do | Why | Legal basis (GDPR) |
|---|---|---|
| Create and run your account; record your votes; operate the feed | To provide the service you signed up for | Performance of a contract (Art. 6(1)(b)) |
| Calculate your Parley Rating, accuracy, tier, streaks, and Opinion Personality | These features are the core of the product | Performance of a contract (Art. 6(1)(b)) |
| Produce aggregated, de-identified sentiment insights we license to brands and researchers | This is how Parley funds a free product | Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)) — balanced against your rights, and only in aggregate form |
| Use your optional demographics to segment those aggregate insights | So insights reflect who actually holds an opinion | Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) — you choose whether to provide these |
| Use your race/ethnicity, or treat votes on political topics as political opinion | Only where you have explicitly opted in | Explicit consent (Art. 6(1)(a) + Art. 9(2)(a)) |
| Prevent fraud, bot voting, spam, and manipulation of results | To keep results honest and the platform safe | Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)) |
| Send service emails, and the daily digest if you are subscribed | To operate your account and deliver what you opted into | Contract, and consent for the digest (withdrawable anytime) |
| Analytics to understand and improve the product | To make Parley better | Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) where required by ePrivacy rules |
| Meet legal, tax, and law-enforcement obligations | Because we must | Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)) |
4. Sensitive data, political opinions, and explicit consent
Some of what Parley touches is treated as "special category" data under the GDPR and "sensitive personal information" under California law. Two things matter here:
- •Race and ethnicity: entirely optional, collected only if you fill it in, and only with your separate explicit consent.
- •Political opinions: if you vote on topics in our Politics category, those votes may reveal a political opinion. We only include political votes in demographic-segmented insights where you have explicitly consented.
5. How we share information — including with brands
Licensing aggregated sentiment is Parley's business model, so we want to be exact about what that does and does not mean.
- •We DO license aggregated, de-identified, statistical insights — percentages and segment breakdowns across groups of people — to brands, agencies, publishers, and researchers.
- •We DO NOT sell your name, email, individual vote record, or any profile that identifies you, and we do not permit buyers to attempt to re-identify anyone.
- •We apply minimum-cohort thresholds so a segment can never be small enough to single a person out.
- •We share data with service providers who process it strictly on our behalf under contract: cloud hosting and database (Supabase, Vercel), product analytics (PostHog), email delivery (Resend), and abuse prevention (Upstash).
- •We may disclose information where legally required, to enforce our Terms, or to protect the rights and safety of our users.
- •If Parley is ever involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, information may transfer as part of that transaction; we will give notice before your data becomes subject to a different policy.
We do not use your data to serve you targeted third-party advertising, and we do not share your personal information with advertising networks.
6. Automated decisions and profiling
Parley builds a profile of your judgment: your Parley Rating and tier are calculated from how often you sided with where the crowd ultimately landed, plus your participation and followers. Your Opinion Personality archetype is derived from patterns in your voting. Ratings may also be used to weight how much a response counts toward the quality of our aggregate insights.
This is profiling. It does not produce legal or similarly significant effects about you, and no automated decision determines your access to anything of legal consequence. You can see what your rating is built from on your profile, and you may object to profiling by contacting us.
7. Your rights
Depending on where you live, you have some or all of the following rights:
- •Access — get a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
- •Rectification — correct anything inaccurate, directly in Settings or by asking us.
- •Erasure — have your account and personal data deleted.
- •Restriction — ask us to pause certain processing.
- •Portability — receive your data in a portable, machine-readable format.
- •Objection — object to processing based on legitimate interests, including profiling.
- •Withdraw consent — at any time, without affecting processing already carried out.
- •Complain — to your data protection supervisory authority.
- •Non-discrimination — we will never degrade your Parley experience because you exercised a privacy right.
To exercise any right, email privacy@myparley.co. We respond within 30 days (extendable where the law allows), and we may need to verify your identity first.
8. California residents (CCPA/CPRA)
In the last 12 months we have collected the categories below. We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of anyone under 16.
| Category | Examples | Disclosed to |
|---|---|---|
| Identifiers | Email, username, IP address | Hosting, analytics, and email providers |
| Protected classifications | Age range, gender, race/ethnicity (all optional) | Not disclosed individually; used only in aggregate insights |
| Internet activity | Pages viewed, product interactions | Analytics provider |
| Geolocation | Approximate location from IP; optional region/postal code | Hosting and analytics providers |
| Inferences | Parley Rating, tier, Opinion Personality archetype | Shown on your public profile; used in aggregate insights |
You have the right to know, delete, and correct your information, to opt out of any "sale" or "sharing," and to limit the use of sensitive personal information. Exercise these at Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information or by emailing us. You may use an authorized agent.
9. How long we keep it
- •Account data: while your account is active, and up to 30 days after deletion to complete removal from backups.
- •Votes and comments: for the life of your account. On deletion they are permanently detached from your identity.
- •Technical logs: typically 90 days.
- •Aggregated, de-identified insights: retained indefinitely — they contain no personal data and cannot be traced to you.
10. International transfers
We are based in the United States and process data there. Where we transfer personal data out of the EEA or UK, we rely on appropriate safeguards — including Standard Contractual Clauses and, where applicable, the UK International Data Transfer Addendum — and we assess whether our providers offer an adequate level of protection.
11. Security and breach notification
We use encryption in transit, row-level database security, access controls, rate limiting, and least-privilege service credentials. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your personal data and poses a risk to your rights, we will notify the relevant supervisory authority within 72 hours of becoming aware of it and inform affected users without undue delay.
12. Cookies
We use strictly necessary cookies to keep you signed in — these cannot be turned off without breaking the service. Analytics cookies are used only with your consent where the law requires it, and you can change your choice at any time.
13. Children
Parley is not intended for anyone under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has given us data, email us and we will delete it.
14. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy. We will change the date above and, for material changes — especially any change to how we share data — give prominent notice and, where required, ask for fresh consent.
15. Contact
Privacy questions, requests, or complaints: privacy@myparley.co.