Socialground Communities Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Socialground Co., Ltd., a company registered in Thailand (registration number 0105563044920, registered address 29/20 Kanchanapisek Road, Thap Chang, Saphan Sung, Bangkok 10250, Thailand), runs paid membership communities that meet in WhatsApp groups, including The Village. This policy covers www.socialground.co and every community we run, and explains what personal data we collect, why, who we share it with, and your choices. We are the data controller under Thailand's Personal Data Protection Act B.E. 2562 (PDPA).

A community's own site may publish a privacy page with details that apply only to it. If it conflicts with this policy, the community's page applies to that community.

2. What we collect

We collect only what we need to run the communities and your membership:

• Sign-in: the email address and one-time code or sign-in link we send you, or your Google account ID if a community offers Google sign-in.
• Contact details: your name, email address and phone number. Your phone number is how we add you to WhatsApp groups and manage your access.
• Membership and payment status: your plan, trial, renewal dates, whether your payments are up to date, and your consent record (the date and version of this policy you agreed to). Payments are handled by our payment processor. We never see or store your full card details.
• Profile and signup answers: anything a community asks when you join, such as your city or interests, used to place you in the right groups and to check that you meet the community's membership criteria.
• Group activity: which groups you are in, and the messages, images and videos you post in our groups, which our moderation system processes as described below.
• Messages with us: what you send to our WhatsApp bot or our team, and our replies.
• Website use: pages you visit and actions you take on our sites, and where you came from (for example which ad or link brought you), as described in section 5.

We do not ask for sensitive personal data such as health records, religious beliefs or biometric data. Please do not post sensitive details about yourself or others in the groups.

3. What other members can see

When you join a WhatsApp group, the other members of that group can see your phone number and your WhatsApp profile name and photo. This is how WhatsApp groups work and we cannot change it. Please think about this before you join, and respect other members' privacy as our Terms of Service require.

4. Why we use it

• To create your account, sign you in and manage your membership.
• To add you to the right WhatsApp groups, and remove you when your membership ends.
• To take payments and check your subscription status.
• To send you messages about your account, billing and the community. If we send you marketing email, every message includes a way to opt out.
• To keep the community safe through moderation.
• To measure and improve our advertising and websites.
• To meet legal, tax and accounting obligations.

Our lawful bases under the PDPA are performing our contract with you, your consent, our legitimate interests in running, protecting and promoting the communities, and legal obligations.

Moderation. Messages in our groups (text, images and video frames, with the nearby conversation for context) are checked by an automated system, which uses an AI model provider, to flag possible breaches of the community guidelines. A person reviews every flag before any action is taken. We rely on our legitimate interest in keeping members safe. You can object by emailing us, in which case the options are manual moderation for you or leaving the community.

We do not sell personal data.

5. Advertising and analytics

Some of our community sites advertise on Facebook and Instagram and measure which ads bring new members. On those sites:

• In your browser, the Meta Pixel records page views, when you tap Join, and completed checkouts. It sets Meta's cookies and reads the click identifier added to links from Facebook or Instagram.
• From our server, we send Meta the same events, with your IP address, browser details, those Meta cookies and the click identifier. If you are signed in, we also send your email address and name in hashed (scrambled) form, never in plain text. We do not send your phone number, payment details or anything you post in the community.
• We use Google Analytics to see how people find and use our sites. It records page views and taps, not your name or email.
• We record which link or campaign first brought you to us, so we know which channels work.

A tracking blocker or your browser's privacy settings will stop the browser part, and you can manage how Meta uses your data at facebook.com/adpreferences. None of this affects your membership. A community's own privacy page says whether that community's site uses these tools.

This site itself does not use the Meta Pixel or Google Analytics. It sets only the cookies needed to sign you in and keep you signed in; it sets no advertising or analytics cookies.

6. Who we share it with

We share personal data only with these categories of recipients, and only as much as they need to do their job for us:

• Payment processing: for communities that charge for membership, the payment processor (Stripe) that takes your payments and manages your subscription. Free communities, including the one on this site, send no payment data anywhere.
• WhatsApp (Meta): to add you to groups and send you messages. Depending on the community, our bot connects to WhatsApp either through our own gateway software running on our servers or through a gateway provider that relays messages for us. WhatsApp's own privacy policy applies to its handling of messages.
• Sign-in provider: Google, if you sign in with Google.
• Advertising and analytics: Meta and Google, as described in section 5, on the sites that use them.
• Hosting and infrastructure: the providers that host our servers, carry network traffic, store uploaded files and hold backups, including OVH (our servers, in Singapore) and Cloudflare (network and backups).
• Email delivery: the provider that sends account and billing emails (Resend).
• AI model providers: the provider whose model checks messages for the moderation review described above and helps our bot answer questions (Groq).
• Error monitoring and internal tools: the tools our team uses to spot errors (Sentry), to receive alerts, for example when a member joins or needs help (Telegram), and to keep our sign-up list, a Google Sheet that holds your name, email address, phone number, sign-up status and whether our emails reached you.
• Professional advisers and authorities: our accountants, lawyers and auditors, and public authorities where the law requires.

We may also disclose data if the law requires it, to protect the rights or safety of members or the public, or as part of a merger or sale of the business, in which case this policy continues to apply.

7. Data stored outside Thailand

Our servers are in Singapore, and several of the providers above process data in other countries, including the United States and the European Union. We transfer personal data outside Thailand because it is necessary to perform our contract with you, and, where we rely on it, with the consent you give when you join, after we have shown you this policy. We use providers that are bound by contract to protect personal data and that are subject to recognized data protection laws.

8. How long we keep it

• While you are a member: we keep your account and membership data.
• After your membership ends: we keep your data for up to two years so we can answer billing questions, handle disputes and support requests, and let you rejoin easily. Then we delete or anonymize it.
• If you ask us to delete your data: we delete or anonymize it within 30 days of your request, whether or not your membership has ended, unless the law requires us to keep some of it. Canceling your membership on its own does not delete your data.
• Billing and tax records: five years from the end of the accounting year, or longer if Thai law requires.
• Backups: copies are removed as backups roll over, within 30 days.

Messages you posted in WhatsApp groups stay on the phones of the members who received them. We cannot delete them from other people's devices.

9. Security

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect personal data, including encrypted connections, restricted access to our systems and databases, and payment handling by our payment processor so card details never reach us. No system is completely secure. If a breach affects your personal data, we will notify the authorities within 72 hours as the PDPA requires, and notify you where the breach is likely to put your rights at risk.

10. Your rights

Under the PDPA you can ask to access your data, get a copy in a portable format, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to its use, and withdraw consent. Where a community's member dashboard offers it, you can download a copy of your data yourself under "Data and privacy" in your account. To delete your account and data, email [email protected]; we will confirm your request and complete the deletion within 30 days. We answer every other request within 30 days too. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing that already happened. You can also complain to Thailand's Personal Data Protection Committee.

11. Children

Our communities are for adults. Members must be at least 18, and in Thailand anyone under 20 needs a parent's or guardian's consent to join. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. Please do not post identifying details or photos of children without thinking carefully about who can see them.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. We will post the new version here with a new date and tell members about significant changes by email or in the community's announcements channel.

13. Contact

Socialground Co., Ltd., 29/20 Kanchanapisek Road, Thap Chang, Saphan Sung, Bangkok 10250, Thailand

Privacy and legal: [email protected]

Each community also lists its own contact address on its site.