Privacy Policy

WebNEWS is operated by Webnews Network Private Limited. For the purposes of India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (“DPDP Act”), we are the Data Fiduciary for the personal data described in this policy.

This policy explains what we collect when you use WebNEWS, why, who we share it with, how long we keep it and the choices you have. It forms part of our Terms & Conditions.

Information you give us

• Account details: your email address and password. Passwords are stored only as a salted hash — we never see or store the password itself.
• Profile: username, display name, bio and profile photo, plus the date and version of the Terms you accepted.
• Content: the stories you publish or save as drafts (title, text, cover image and source link).
• Messages: anything you send us by email, such as reports, takedown requests or support questions.

Information created when you use the Service

• Activity: who you follow, the stories you like and share, and which stories were viewed (so each reader counts once per story).
• How you use the Service: the buttons and links you tap, the features you use, what you search for and how long you spend reading each story — see How we record your use of WebNEWS.
• Session and security data: the IP address and browser (user agent) recorded with your login session, and technical logs used to keep the Service secure and to limit abuse.
• Anonymous viewer ID: if you read without an account, a random identifier in a cookie lets us count unique views without knowing who you are.

We remove hidden metadata such as camera details and GPS location from images you upload before storing them.

To understand how WebNEWS is used, to show reporters how their stories perform, and to improve and personalise the Service, we keep a record of how you use it. Each time you use WebNEWS — on the website or in the app — we record:

• What you tap: the name of the button or link (for example “Like”, “Share”, “Follow” or “Open story”) and the story or profile it relates to;
• Features you use: for example turning auto-scroll on or off, switching between grid and reels, starting News radio, and double-tapping to like;
• What you search for on WebNEWS, and how long you read each story you open;
• the page you were on, the time, and whether you used the website or the app.

If you are logged in, this record is linked to your account. If you are not, it is linked only to the anonymous viewer ID described under Cookies, and not to your name or email. We do not record what you type into stories, comments or messages through this feature, and we do not record anything outside WebNEWS.

How it is used

• Reporters see totals for their own stories only — for example how many readers opened a story or pressed “Share” — never who did it.
• WebNEWS’s administrators can see the activity of individual accounts, to run and secure the Service, investigate abuse and understand how features are used.
• We may use it to personalise your experience — for example to choose which stories appear in your feed and in what order, based on what you read and engage with.

We do not sell this information or share it with advertisers. Activity records are kept for up to 24 months and then deleted, and they are deleted with your account if you close it.

If you choose “Continue with Google”, Google shares your name, email address, profile photo and Google account ID with us (the openid, email and profile scopes). We never receive your Google password, and we do not access your Gmail, contacts, Drive or any other Google data.

We use your Google photo to pre-fill your profile picture; when you finish setting up your profile we store our own copy of it. You can change it at any time in Settings, and you can remove WebNEWS’s access from your Google account’s security settings.

• to create and secure your account and keep you logged in;
• to show your profile and byline, publish your stories and deliver them to readers in real time;
• to run feeds, follower lists and like, share and view counts;
• to show reporters how their stories perform, and to understand and improve how WebNEWS is used, including personalising the stories you see;
• to prevent spam, abuse, fraud and security incidents, including rate limiting;
• to review reports, moderate content and enforce our Terms;
• to answer your messages and tell you about important changes to the Service; and
• to comply with the law and respond to lawful requests from authorities.

We process your data on the basis of the consent you give when you create your account and accept our Terms, and for the legitimate uses permitted by the DPDP Act (for example, complying with the law). We do not sell your personal data and we do not use it for third-party advertising.

WebNEWS is a public platform. Your username, display name, profile photo, bio, join date, published stories, follower and following lists and the like, share and view counts of your stories can be seen by anyone, including people who are not logged in, and may be indexed by search engines or shared on other sites.

Your email address, drafts and password are private. Other users cannot see who liked a story or who viewed it — only the totals.

We use only cookies and browser storage that are needed to run the Service. There are no advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.

• Session cookies (named better-auth.*) keep you logged in. They are HttpOnly, and a session lasts up to 7 days unless it is renewed by using the Service. Short-lived cookies also protect the Google sign-in flow against forgery.
• wn_vid — a random anonymous ID (kept for up to 1 year) so that a story’s view count counts each reader once, and so that activity by readers who are not logged in can be grouped without knowing who they are.
• Local storage on your device keeps an unsent draft of the story you are writing so a refresh doesn’t lose it. It never leaves your browser.

You can clear cookies and site data in your browser at any time; you will then be logged out.

Account, profile and story data are stored in our database with our hosting providers. Images you upload — profile photos and story covers — are stored and delivered through Cloudflare R2, the object storage service of Cloudflare, Inc., which serves them from its global network.

Our providers may process data in India or other countries. Where data is transferred outside India, we do so only as permitted under the DPDP Act and require providers to protect it with appropriate safeguards.

• Service providers who help us run WebNEWS — hosting, database, image storage and delivery (Cloudflare) and sign-in (Google) — under contracts that limit their use of your data to providing services to us.
• Authorities, when required by law, court order or a lawful request, or when needed to protect the rights, property or safety of our users, the public or Webnews Network Private Limited.
• A successor, if Webnews Network Private Limited is involved in a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, subject to this policy.

• Account and profile data: while your account is active.
• Stories and images: until you delete them or your account. Deleted stories disappear from the Service immediately and their images are removed from storage.
• When you ask us to delete your account, we delete your profile, stories, drafts, likes, follows, activity records and sessions within 30 days, apart from limited records we must keep to meet legal obligations or resolve disputes.
• Login sessions expire after 7 days of inactivity; security logs are kept for up to 90 days.
• Records of how you use the Service (buttons tapped, features used, searches, reading time): up to 24 months.

Under the DPDP Act you have the right to:

• obtain a summary of the personal data we process about you and how we process it;
• correct, complete or update your data — most of it you can edit yourself in Settings;
• have your data erased, and withdraw your consent (which means closing your account);
• have your grievances addressed by our Grievance Officer; and
• nominate another person to exercise these rights on your behalf in the event of death or incapacity.

To exercise any of these rights, email contact@webnews.in from the address linked to your account. We will verify your request and aim to respond within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Data Protection Board of India.

Verified reporters can connect an Instagram Professional account and a Facebook Page in Settings, so the stories they publish on WebNEWS are posted there automatically. Connecting goes through Meta’s own login; we never see your Instagram or Facebook password.

When you connect, we keep the account’s ID and name (your @username, or your Page’s name and the other Pages you manage) and the access key Meta gives us, stored encrypted. We use them only to post the stories you publish while “Auto-post” is on, and to show you whether each post went out. We don’t read your messages, followers or other posts.

To delete this data: tap Disconnect in Edit profile → Connected accounts — the access key and account details are deleted at once and nothing more is posted. You can also remove WebNEWS in Instagram (Settings → Apps and websites) or Facebook (Settings → Business integrations), or email contact@webnews.in from the address linked to your account and we will delete it within 30 days. Posts already published on Instagram or Facebook stay there until you delete them yourself.

WebNEWS is intended for people aged 18 and over, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has created an account, contact contact@webnews.in and we will delete it.

We protect your data with encrypted connections (HTTPS) in production, hashed passwords, HttpOnly session cookies, strict access controls and rate limits on sensitive actions. No online service can be perfectly secure, so please use a strong, unique password. If we become aware of a personal data breach that affects you, we will notify you and the Data Protection Board of India as the law requires.

We may update this policy as WebNEWS evolves. The date and version at the top show when it last changed. If a change materially affects how we use your data, we will let you know on the Service before it takes effect.

For privacy questions, requests or complaints, contact our Grievance Officer:

Grievance Officer, Webnews Network Private Limited
Email: contact@webnews.in