Privacy Policy

1. Scope and relationship to other policies

This Privacy Policy explains how WORL processes personal information in connection with worl.com and the Service. It should be read with the Terms of Service, Community Guidelines, and Cookie Policy. This Policy describes categories and purposes of processing; it does not override rights or disclosures mandated by applicable privacy law.

The operator of the Service determines the purposes and means of processing for its own activities. Privacy inquiries and requests may be sent through the Contact page. Do not submit sensitive information in a public post or question unless you intend it to be public.

2. Information we receive

Account and profile data may include username, display name, email address, authentication credentials in protected form, profile image, biography, preferences, and settings. We receive questions, answers, posts, comments, messages, reports, attachments, and other material you choose to provide.

We also receive usage and technical information such as IP address, device and browser characteristics, approximate location inferred from IP, timestamps, pages and features used, referral URLs, interaction logs, diagnostic events, and security signals. Cookies and similar technologies may collect or store identifiers as described in the Cookie Policy.

Other users may provide information about you through mentions, replies, reports, and interactions. We may receive limited information from identity, authentication, analytics, hosting, anti-abuse, or other providers when they support the Service. We do not promise that every category listed is collected in every deployment; actual processing must match the live Service.

3. Public content and user choices

Questions, answers, public profiles, comments, and other publicly designated contributions may be viewed, indexed, quoted, copied, cached, archived, or shared by other people and search engines. Even after deletion, copies outside our control may persist. Avoid posting information you would not want made public.

Private or restricted features may limit visibility but cannot guarantee absolute confidentiality or prevent recipients from saving or disclosing what they see. You are responsible for your own disclosures and for obtaining permission before posting someone else’s personal data. Our Community Guidelines restrict privacy-invasive conduct.

4. Purposes of processing

We use information to provide accounts, publish and organize questions and answers, deliver communications and notifications, enable search and discovery, maintain feeds and rankings, personalize settings, and support user interactions.

We also process information to prevent spam and fraud, investigate abuse, enforce the Terms of Service and Community Guidelines, protect people and infrastructure, handle reports and disputes, comply with law, establish or defend legal claims, measure performance, debug errors, and improve functionality. Where implemented and lawfully permitted, we may use information for analytics, recommendations, advertising measurement, and promotion.

We may aggregate or de-identify information for research, statistics, service development, and reporting, provided it is handled consistently with applicable law. We do not claim that merely labeling data anonymous makes it legally anonymous.

5. Legal grounds where required

Where law requires a legal basis, we rely as appropriate on performance of a contract (account and core Service functions), legitimate interests (security, moderation, fraud prevention, service improvement and lawful business operations), compliance with legal obligations, consent (for processing that requires it), or another valid basis.

A claimed legitimate interest does not automatically override your rights. Where consent is required for optional tracking or other activities, we seek it before those activities and permit withdrawal as legally required. See the Cookie Policy.

6. Sharing and disclosure

We may share information with infrastructure hosts, content delivery services, email and notification vendors, security and abuse-prevention services, analytics vendors, professional advisers, and other processors acting on our instructions under appropriate arrangements. Public User Content is shared by design with its intended audience.

We may disclose information to comply with valid legal process; protect rights, safety, and property; investigate suspected wrongdoing; enforce our policies; or establish, exercise, or defend claims, where legally permitted. Information may also be transferred in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, or sale of assets, subject to applicable safeguards.

We do not promise never to disclose information, nor do we authorize unrestricted disclosure. Any advertising or analytics sharing must be accurately described here and in the Cookie Policy before activation.

7. Retention and deletion

We retain information for as long as reasonably needed for the purposes described here, including maintaining the Service, security, records, dispute resolution, enforcement, and legal obligations. Different categories may have different retention periods based on their purpose and legal requirements.

We may delete, anonymize, or retain information following account closure, including backups, security logs, legal records, and content that remains in discussions or has been lawfully reused, subject to mandatory deletion rights. Removing a post or account does not necessarily remove copies held by third parties.

The broad content license described in the Terms of Service does not eliminate statutory rights concerning personal data. We will evaluate valid deletion and objection requests under applicable law.

8. Security and account protection

We use reasonable technical and organizational safeguards appropriate to the information and risks involved, but no online system is completely secure. You should use strong credentials, protect your devices, and promptly report suspected account compromise through the Contact page.

We may monitor for suspicious activity, restrict access, and preserve relevant records to protect the Service, consistent with applicable law.

9. International processing

Information may be processed or stored in countries other than your own through the Service and its providers. Where required, we apply legally recognized transfer mechanisms and safeguards. We do not promise that data will remain within any particular country unless separately and expressly stated.

10. Your privacy rights

Depending on applicable law, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, port, or object to certain processing, withdraw consent, or lodge a complaint with a competent regulator. These rights are not absolute; lawful exceptions and verification requirements may apply.

Submit requests through /contact/. We may request information reasonably necessary to verify your identity and understand your request. We will respond within applicable legal deadlines and will not require you to waive statutory rights as a condition of submitting a request.

11. Children and sensitive information

The Service is not intended for persons below the minimum age stated in the Terms of Service or required by law. If we learn that personal information was collected in violation of applicable children’s privacy rules, we will take appropriate action.

Do not post highly sensitive personal, financial, medical, identification, or confidential information in public discussions. If you do, other users may see and reuse it, and we may moderate it under the Community Guidelines.

12. Cookies, communications, and third parties

Our use of cookies and comparable technologies is explained in the Cookie Policy. You may receive account, security, moderation, and service notices; marketing communications, if offered, are subject to applicable opt-out and consent rules.

Links and embedded third-party content may have their own privacy practices. Review those policies before interacting with them. We are not responsible for independently operated third-party services.

13. Changes and contact

We may revise this Policy to reflect operational, legal, or technical changes. The updated version will be posted with its effective date, and we will provide additional notice or seek consent where required by law.

For questions, complaints, or requests, use the Contact page. For rules on content, moderation, and user responsibility, review the Terms of Service and Community Guidelines.