Afripearl

Version V1 · Effective date: 2026-05-23 · Last updated: 2026-05-23

AfriPearl — Privacy Policy

Version: V1 Effective date: 2026-05-23 Data Controller: Benoît Sartre (sole proprietorship, Germany — registration pending) Registered address: Darmstädter Strasse 5, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany Contact: contact@afripearl.com

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy explains how AfriPearl ("we", "us", "our") collects, uses, and protects your personal data when you use afripearl.com (the "Platform").

We comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG).

2. Data we collect

2.1 Account data

  • Email address
  • First name (or pseudonym)
  • Date of birth
  • Country of residence
  • Password (encrypted)

2.2 Profile data

  • Photos and videos uploaded
  • Self-description, interests, languages
  • Education and profession (optional)
  • Relationship intentions (optional)

2.3 Verification data (Featured Women and Premium Men)

During verification, we temporarily collect a copy of your government-issued ID. This document is deleted within 7 days of verification. We only retain metadata:

  • Verification status (yes/no)
  • Date of verification
  • Type of document
  • Country of issuance
  • Expiration date (if any)
  • Internal verifier ID

2.4 Communication data

  • Chat messages exchanged on the Platform
  • Notifications sent and received
  • Introduction requests sent, accepted, refused

2.5 Payment data (Premium Men only)

  • Transaction ID
  • Amount paid
  • Date and pricing tier
  • Last 4 digits of the card (provided by Stripe)
  • We never store full credit card details. Payments are processed by Stripe, which is PCI-DSS compliant.

2.6 Technical data

  • IP address
  • Browser type and version
  • Operating system
  • Device type
  • Pages visited and timestamps
  • Cookies (see Cookie Policy at /cookies)

2.7 Consent data

  • Acceptance of Terms (timestamp, IP, version)
  • Marketing consent (Featured Women, with separate Consent Form)
  • Cookie preferences

3. Legal basis for processing (GDPR Article 6)

Purpose Legal basis
Account creation and Service operation Contract (Article 6(1)(b))
ID verification Legal obligation + legitimate interest (Article 6(1)(c) and (f))
Marketing use of Featured Women's images Explicit consent (Article 6(1)(a) and 9(2)(a))
Payment processing Contract (Article 6(1)(b))
Communication between users Contract (Article 6(1)(b))
Analytics (anonymized) Legitimate interest (Article 6(1)(f))
Marketing emails Consent (Article 6(1)(a)) — opt-in only
Fraud prevention and security Legitimate interest (Article 6(1)(f))

4. Data retention

Data type Retention period
Active account data Duration of the account + 3 years for legal evidence
Inactive account (no login for 24 months) Anonymized after 24 months of inactivity
Deleted account Erased within 30 days, except legal obligations (accounting: 10 years for invoices, German law)
ID document copy 7 days maximum then permanently deleted
ID metadata Duration of the Featured/Premium status + 3 years
Chat messages Duration of the account + 1 year
Payment records 10 years (German accounting law)
Marketing content of Featured Women 5 years (consent duration), renewable
Cookies (consent cookie) 12 months
Analytics cookies 13 months max (CNIL recommendation)

5. Data sharing

We share your personal data only with:

  • Stripe (payment processor) — PCI-DSS compliant
  • Hosting provider (Hetzner, Germany — GDPR compliant)
  • Email provider (transactional emails)
  • Identity verification service (if used, e.g. Stripe Identity — GDPR compliant)
  • Law enforcement if legally required

We never sell your personal data to third parties.

We do not transfer your data outside the European Economic Area (EEA) unless to a country with an adequacy decision from the European Commission, or under appropriate safeguards (Standard Contractual Clauses).

6. Your rights (GDPR)

You have the right to:

  • Access (Article 15): request a copy of your data
  • Rectify (Article 16): correct inaccurate data
  • Erase (Article 17): request deletion ("right to be forgotten")
  • Restrict processing (Article 18)
  • Data portability (Article 20): receive your data in a machine-readable format
  • Object (Article 21) to processing based on legitimate interest
  • Withdraw consent at any time, with effect for the future
  • Not be subject to automated decision-making (Article 22)

To exercise any right, email contact@afripearl.com. We respond within 30 days.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the German data protection authority of your federal state. For the Operator (based in Hesse): Hessischer Beauftragter für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit — https://datenschutz.hessen.de

7. Security

We implement technical and organizational measures to protect your data:

  • HTTPS encryption (TLS 1.3)
  • Encrypted password storage (bcrypt)
  • Database encryption at rest
  • Regular security backups
  • Access controls (only authorized admins)
  • Logs and audit trails

No system is 100% secure. In case of a data breach affecting your rights, we will notify you and the competent data protection authority within 72 hours, as required by GDPR Article 33-34.

8. Children's privacy

The Service is not intended for persons under 18. We do not knowingly collect data from minors. If we discover that a user is under 18, we will delete their account immediately.

9. Cookies

See our dedicated Cookie Policy at /cookies.

10. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy at any time. Material changes will be notified by email and/or via a notice on the Platform at least 30 days before they take effect.

11. Contact

Data Protection contact: contact@afripearl.com Data Controller: Benoît Sartre, Darmstädter Strasse 5, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany German Data Protection Authority: Hessischer Beauftragter für Datenschutz, https://datenschutz.hessen.de