Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Pehli Baat, operated by Presslink Media ("Pehli Baat", "we", "us", "our"), collects, uses, processes, stores, protects and shares information when you use the Pehli Baat mobile application, website and related services.

Pehli Baat is a digital news, current-affairs, community and participation platform. Our services may include news, local information, user-generated news, photographs, videos, civic complaint services, competitions including Ganpati Competition, community activities and other digital features.

By accessing or using Pehli Baat, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.

Depending on the features you use, we may collect the following information.

• Name. We may collect your name when you create or update your account, for account creation, profile management, user identification, communication, customer support and providing application features.
• Phone Number. We may collect your mobile or phone number for account registration, OTP verification, login and authentication, account security, and account- or service-related communication.
• Email Address. We may collect your email address for account registration, account management, customer support, security, and account- or service-related communication.
• Gender. Where requested during registration or profile completion, we may collect gender information for profile management or personalization where applicable.
• Date of Birth. We may collect your date of birth for account/profile management, age-related requirements, personalization, eligibility for certain features or activities, and other legitimate application purposes.

Pehli Baat and/or third-party service providers may collect device or other identifiers. Depending on the device, operating system, application version and services used, these may include advertising identifiers, application installation identifiers, device identifiers and other technical identifiers.

These identifiers may be used for application functionality, security, fraud prevention, analytics, crash and performance monitoring, advertising, advertising measurement and service improvement. The exact identifiers collected may vary depending on your device and the technologies integrated into the application. Google Play's Data Safety requirements require developers to disclose relevant device or other IDs and their uses.

Pehli Baat may allow users to upload photographs and videos for news, local reporting, civic complaints, community activities, competitions, Ganpati Competition and other features supported by the application.

When you voluntarily upload a photograph or video, we may collect, store, process, display and publish the material as necessary to provide the relevant service. You are responsible for ensuring that you have the necessary rights and permissions to upload the content.

Pehli Baat may allow users to submit news articles, news reports, text, photographs, videos, captions, comments, local information, civic information and other community content.

The user-news upload facility may be available only in selected cities, districts, states or other locations. Availability may change from time to time.

Pehli Baat may provide a civic complaint or civic reporting facility. Depending on the feature, a civic complaint may contain a description of the issue, photographs, videos, location information and other information voluntarily provided by the user.

The civic complaint facility is not operational in every location. It may be available only in selected cities, districts or other geographical areas. The service may be expanded, restricted, suspended or discontinued depending on operational, technical, legal or other requirements. Users should avoid submitting unnecessary sensitive personal information about themselves or other people.

Certain Pehli Baat features may request or use location information for local news, location-specific content, civic complaints, nearby information, location-based services and other features requiring geographic information.

Location-based features may not be available everywhere. Where applicable, users can manage location permissions through their device settings.

We may collect technical information necessary to operate, secure and improve the application, which may include device model, operating system, application version, IP address, network information, device or application identifiers, crash information, performance information, technical logs and usage information.

The exact information collected may depend on your device, operating system, application version and third-party services used by Pehli Baat.

We may use collected information to:

• Create and manage accounts, authenticate users and verify phone numbers.
• Provide news services and publish user-generated content.
• Process civic complaints and provide location-based services.
• Organize competitions, manage Ganpati Competition, verify competition participation and communicate competition results.
• Send notifications and provide customer support.
• Improve application functionality, understand application usage and improve performance.
• Detect fraud, prevent spam and abuse, and maintain security.
• Provide and measure the performance of advertisements.
• Process selected content using AI.
• Comply with applicable laws, respond to lawful requests, and protect our users, services and legal rights.

Pehli Baat may use Google AdMob to display advertisements. Advertising and measurement technologies may process certain information, including device identifiers, advertising identifiers, application interaction information and other information required for advertising and measurement.

Depending on applicable laws, user settings and Google's systems, advertisements may be personalized or non-personalized. We do not intentionally provide your phone number, email address, gender or date of birth to Google for advertising audience targeting. Third-party advertising providers may independently process information in accordance with their own policies. Users may have advertising controls available through their device or Google account settings.

Pehli Baat may use third-party service providers to operate and improve the application. Depending on the current version of the application, these may include providers for authentication, cloud hosting, database infrastructure, analytics, crash reporting, push notifications, advertising, AI processing, maps and location services, security and technical infrastructure.

Third-party providers may process information necessary to provide their services, and may have their own privacy policies and terms. The third-party services integrated into Pehli Baat may change over time. Our Google Play Data Safety declaration is intended to reflect the actual data practices and SDKs used in the relevant version of the application.

Pehli Baat may use artificial intelligence and automated technologies for selected news content and selected languages, including news summarization, translation, headline generation, formatting, categorization, language conversion and editorial assistance. AI-assisted processing may not be used for every article or every language.

AI-generated or AI-assisted content may contain errors, omissions, translation mistakes, incorrect interpretation, outdated information or other inaccuracies. Pehli Baat may review, edit, correct, modify, label or remove AI-assisted content. Where an external AI service provider is used, relevant content may be transmitted to that provider for processing.

Pehli Baat may organize or facilitate competitions, contests, campaigns and community activities from time to time, including Ganpati Competition. Depending on the particular competition, we may collect information necessary for registration, participation, verification, communication, judging, result publication, prize distribution and fraud prevention.

This may include name, contact information, photographs, videos and other information voluntarily provided by participants. The specific rules, eligibility requirements, submission requirements, prizes and other conditions may be communicated separately for each competition. Competition-specific rules may supplement this Privacy Policy and the Terms & Conditions.

Some content submitted by users may be publicly published through Pehli Baat, including news, photos, videos, comments, civic complaints, competition submissions and other community content.

Public content may be viewed, shared, referenced or reproduced by other users or third parties. Users should carefully consider what information they include in publicly submitted content.

We may share or provide access to information where reasonably necessary for hosting, authentication, advertising, analytics, AI processing, notifications, technical support, security, application operations and legal compliance.

We may also disclose information when required by applicable law, court order, government request or other lawful process. We do not sell users' personal information as a business practice.

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures intended to protect information against unauthorized access, misuse, alteration, loss or disclosure, including HTTPS/TLS encrypted connections, authentication controls, access restrictions, server security, application security, monitoring and fraud prevention. However, no internet transmission or electronic storage system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

We retain information for as long as reasonably necessary to provide services, maintain accounts, provide support, maintain security, prevent fraud and abuse, resolve disputes, comply with legal obligations, protect our legal rights and maintain legitimate business records. When information is no longer required, we may delete, anonymize or securely dispose of it, subject to applicable legal and operational requirements.

Users who create an account may request deletion of their account.

In-App Account Deletion. Users can delete their account through Profile → Settings → Delete Account. An external account-deletion facility is also provided through our website. Google Play requires apps that allow account creation to provide both an in-app and external method for requesting account deletion, and associated account data generally must be deleted when the request is processed, subject to legitimate and clearly disclosed retention requirements.

Personal Account Data. Following a valid account deletion request, associated personal account information — name, phone number, email address, gender, date of birth, profile information, account credentials and other account-associated personal information — will be deleted or otherwise handled according to applicable legal requirements and legitimate retention requirements.

Previously Published Content. Deleting an account does not necessarily mean that every piece of content previously published through Pehli Baat will be immediately removed. Publicly published news, photos, videos, comments, competition submissions or civic content may be retained where reasonably necessary for editorial integrity, public-interest reporting, historical records, legal compliance, fraud prevention, security, dispute resolution, moderation or protection of legal rights. Where appropriate, personal identifiers may be removed or anonymized. Information may also be retained where required by law or for legitimate security, fraud-prevention or legal purposes.

Pehli Baat is a general news and community platform and is not specifically designed as a children's service. Parents and guardians should supervise minors' use of the service where appropriate. If you believe that a child has provided personal information inappropriately, please contact us.

If you have a complaint, correction request, concern or objection regarding news, articles, photographs, videos, user-generated content, civic content, competition content, privacy, copyright or other material published through Pehli Baat, please contact: mail@pehlibaat.com.

Please provide sufficient information to identify the relevant content, such as the article title, URL, screenshot, date of publication and a description of the concern. We may investigate and take appropriate action depending on the circumstances.

We may update this Privacy Policy at any time to reflect changes in our services, technology, data practices, third-party services, legal requirements, business operations or security practices.

For material changes, we may provide notice through one or more appropriate methods, including in-app notification, website notice, email, application notice or other reasonable communication. The latest version will be published on our website with an updated "Last Updated" or "Effective Date." Users are encouraged to review this Privacy Policy periodically. Your continued use of Pehli Baat after an updated Privacy Policy becomes effective constitutes acknowledgment of the updated policy, to the extent permitted by applicable law.

• Application: Pehli Baat
• Operated by: Presslink Media
• Website: pehlibaat.com
• Email: mail@pehlibaat.com
• Jurisdiction: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

For privacy, account deletion, security, news, copyright, civic content or other concerns, please contact us at mail@pehlibaat.com.