UK Privacy Notice

1. Who is responsible for your information

SPHERE Social Media Holdings LLC is responsible for deciding how personal information covered by this notice is used. SPHERE is an international service operated by a US company; the UK pages provide a dedicated experience for members across all four nations of the United Kingdom and do not represent a separate UK-incorporated company.

Privacy questions and requests may be sent to info@spheresocialmediallc.com. Please include enough information for us to understand and securely verify your request, but never email your password.

2. Information we collect

The information collected depends on how you use SPHERE and may include:

• Registration and identity details: legal name, username, email address, telephone number, date of birth, gender, and encrypted or hashed account credentials.
• UK address details: address lines, town or city, county where supplied, postcode, nation, and country.
• Profile and social activity: profile information and photograph, posts, uploaded media, friendships or connections, reactions, and other activity you choose to create.
• Communications and safety: messages, reports, concerns, support correspondence, moderation records, and information needed to investigate misuse or protect members.
• Technical information: device, browser, IP address, login/session information, timestamps, security events, and cookies or similar technology needed to operate and protect the service.
• Transaction information: limited records relating to a purchase or subscription, such as status, amount, currency, or transaction reference. Payment providers handle payment credentials under their own terms.

Please do not post or send personal information you do not want others to receive. Public profile information and public posts may be visible to other members or visitors, depending on the feature and your settings.

3. Why and how we use information

SPHERE may use personal information to:

• create, secure, administer, and authenticate accounts;
• provide profiles, posts, connections, messages, support, and other requested features;
• confirm eligibility for our 16+ community and support age-appropriate safety measures;
• personalise and improve the service and understand performance;
• process or reconcile payments and communicate about transactions;
• detect fraud, spam, abuse, security incidents, and breaches of our rules;
• respond to reports, enforce terms, protect rights and safety, and comply with applicable law; and
• send service messages and, where permitted, communications you have chosen to receive.

Legal grounds

Depending on the activity and applicable law, the legal ground may be performance of our agreement with you, SPHERE's legitimate interests in operating and protecting the platform, compliance with a legal obligation, or your consent where consent is appropriate. Some rights and exceptions differ according to the legal ground and circumstances.

4. When information may be shared

We do not describe personal information as being sold. Information may be disclosed only where reasonably necessary, including to service providers that support hosting, storage, security, communications, customer support, analytics, or payment processing; to professional advisers; during a genuine corporate transaction; to comply with lawful requests; or to prevent harm and protect SPHERE, its members, and others.

PayPal and other payment services

If PayPal is offered, PayPal processes payment details under its own privacy notice and may act independently for parts of that processing. SPHERE does not need to receive or store your full card or bank-account details. PayPal's involvement does not remove SPHERE's own tax, consumer, or data-protection responsibilities, and it should not be assumed that PayPal automatically handles every UK VAT obligation for a seller.

You should review the privacy information shown by the payment provider before completing a transaction.

5. International processing

SPHERE uses the same international platform and database for its US, UK, and worldwide community. Information from UK members may therefore be stored or processed in the United States and in other countries where SPHERE or its service providers operate.

Where UK law requires a safeguard for an international transfer, SPHERE will use an applicable authorised transfer mechanism or other lawful basis and will assess or supplement protections where required. This notice does not claim that SPHERE is certified under the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.

Official guidance is available from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

6. Security, cookies, and retention

SPHERE uses reasonable administrative, technical, and organisational measures intended to protect personal information. No online system can promise absolute security, so members should use a strong unique password, protect their sign-in details, and report suspicious activity promptly.

Essential cookies and session technologies may be used to keep you signed in, remember choices, maintain security, and operate the site. Additional technologies, if introduced, will be explained and managed as required.

We keep information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described here, including providing an active account, resolving disputes, preventing fraud or abuse, meeting legal and accounting duties, and maintaining security. The period varies according to the type of information, why it is needed, and applicable requirements. Information is deleted, anonymised, or securely retained when appropriate.

7. Your UK data-protection rights

Subject to the circumstances and legal exceptions, UK data-protection law may give you rights to:

• be informed about the use of your information;
• request access to personal information held about you;
• correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
• request erasure or restriction of processing;
• object to certain processing;
• receive or transfer certain information in a portable format;
• withdraw consent where processing relies on consent; and
• receive safeguards in relation to qualifying solely automated decisions.

These rights are not absolute, and we may need to verify identity before acting. To make a request, email info@spheresocialmediallc.com. We will explain if a request cannot be fulfilled in whole or in part.

Read the ICO's guide to your data rights. If you remain concerned, you may also raise a concern with the ICO.

8. Changes to this notice

We may update this notice when the service, our practices, or applicable requirements change. The review date at the top will be updated, and important changes may also be brought to members' attention through the site or another appropriate channel.

This page is intended to provide clear privacy information and is not a claim of approval, registration, or endorsement by the ICO or any other regulator. Official requirements and guidance may change.