Privacy Policy

1. Introduction and scope

Read Pulse (https://readpulse.net) is an online story-reading platform.

Read Pulse provides its service to users worldwide. This Privacy Policy applies to Read Pulse users regardless of the country or region from which they access the service, unless stated otherwise.

Personal data rights and legal requirements may differ depending on the country or region you live in.

For users in the European Union and the European Economic Area (EU/EEA), Read Pulse processes personal data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and applicable data protection rules.

For users in the United Kingdom (UK), Read Pulse processes personal data in accordance with the UK GDPR and the data protection rules currently in force in the United Kingdom.

For users in the United States (US), privacy rights and requirements apply under the relevant federal or state law, to the extent those laws apply to Read Pulse.

For users in other countries or regions, Read Pulse will handle requests relating to personal data in accordance with this Policy and with the requirements of the data protection laws applicable in the relevant region, to the extent those rules apply to Read Pulse.

The officially published story catalogue on Read Pulse consists of works of fiction written, edited or produced by human teams under the editorial control of Read Pulse. The official published catalogue of Read Pulse is not generated by artificial intelligence.

Read Pulse may offer Gamification (AI-powered) as a separate interactive feature. When you use this feature, the AI generates responses in real time based on the scenario and the content you enter. Gamification is not used to produce the official published catalogue of Read Pulse.

This Policy applies when you:

• Visit Read Pulse, including while signed out;
• Create and use an account;
• Read stories or interactive CYOA stories;
• Use bookmarks, My Library, reading lists, follows and other reading features;
• Use comments, replies, reviews, theories, lore notes/Reader Pulse or other community features;
• Turn on personalized recommendations;
• Use Gamification where the feature is available;
• Submit reports or appeals, or interact with the moderation system;
• Receive emails or notifications, or contact support;
• Submit requests relating to personal data and privacy.

This Policy currently applies to the Read Pulse website. If Read Pulse later releases an application or a new product with different data processing activities, this Policy will be updated as needed.

At present, Read Pulse does not allow users to publish their own stories or chapters publicly on the platform.

2. The personal data we collect

The data we process depends on how you use Read Pulse. You will not necessarily provide every category of data listed below.

2.1. Account information

When you create or manage an account, we may process:

• Email address;
• Your password, protected in a form that cannot be read directly;
• Date of birth;
• Email verification status;
• Display name;
• Avatar;
• Bio;
• Language;
• Account settings;
• Sign-in session information;
• The information needed to change your email address or reset your password.

Your email address, date of birth and sign-in information are not displayed publicly to other users.

2.2. Age information

Read Pulse uses your date of birth to:

• Determine whether you are old enough to create an account;
• Apply age limits to certain content or features;
• Apply the appropriate protective settings for underage users.

People under the age of 13 may not create a Read Pulse account.

2.3. Profile and community activity

Depending on the features you use, we may process:

• Display name;
• Avatar and bio;
• Comments and replies;
• Reviews;
• Theories and theory replies;
• Lore notes/Reader Pulse;
• Reading lists and reading list descriptions;
• Reactions and votes;
• Follows;
• Community activity;
• Reports;
• Appeals;
• Information relating to the moderation process.

Some content in this group may be displayed publicly if the feature is public in nature or if you choose to make it public.

2.4. Reading and library data

Read Pulse may store the information needed to provide the reading experience, including:

• Reading history;
• Stories or chapters you have read;
• Reading progress;
• Your current reading position;
• Bookmarks;
• My Library;
• Reading lists;
• The stories, genres or users you follow;
• Reactions;
• Choices made in CYOA stories;
• Reader settings.

Reading progress and bookmarks are always kept private.

2.5. Data used for personalized recommendations

Personalized recommendations are an optional feature.

If you turn this feature on, Read Pulse may use your reading history, the genres you read or the content you follow to infer the genres you may be interested in and to suggest stories that suit you better.

Read Pulse does not use this information for advertising and does not share it with advertising providers.

2.6. Data of signed-out guests

Some features may need to create a temporary identifier on your device in order to keep a session working, for example:

• A CYOA play session;
• A guest Gamification session where the feature is enabled.

This identifier does not directly contain your name or your email address.

2.7. Gamification data

When you use Gamification, we may process:

• The content you enter;
• The persona or character details you create;
• The scenario and setting;
• The recent conversation turns needed to maintain context;
• The responses generated by the AI;
• The state of the session;
• The results of safety and moderation checks;
• Technical information relating to your use of the feature.

When generating an AI response, Read Pulse does not deliberately send your account password, your email address or your date of birth as part of the request for the AI to generate a response.

2.8. Technical and security data

When you use Read Pulse, our systems and our infrastructure providers may process certain technical information, such as:

• Session information;
• Requests sent to the server;
• The time and status of those requests;
• The number of failed sign-in attempts;
• The information needed to limit spam or unusual requests;
• Security events;
• Error information.

IP addresses may be processed temporarily by Read Pulse or by our infrastructure providers in order to operate the service, maintain security and prevent abuse, even where the IP address is not stored as a field in a user profile.

2.9. Information when you contact Read Pulse

When you send an email, a report, an appeal or a support request, we may process:

• The email address you use to contact us;
• The content of the exchange;
• The account or issue information you provide;
• Files or images you choose to attach;
• The times at which the messages were sent and received;
• The information needed to verify and resolve your request.

This information is used to respond to your request, resolve the issue, protect your account or meet obligations relating to privacy and safety.

2.10. Where the data comes from

Data may come from:

• You directly: for example your email address, date of birth, profile, comments, reviews, reports, appeals, support content or Gamification content.
• Your use of Read Pulse: for example reading progress, reading history, sign-in sessions and choices made in CYOA stories.
• Data generated or inferred by our systems: for example genre preferences when you turn recommendations on, moderation outcomes or security information.
• Service providers: to the extent necessary to provide the services described in this Policy.

3. How do we use your data?

If we want to use data for a new purpose that is not compatible with the original purpose, Read Pulse will assess that activity and will provide information or ask for your consent where the law requires it.

Emails and notifications from Read Pulse

Read Pulse may send you two groups of messages:

Notifications necessary for the service, such as:

• Email verification;
• Password reset;
• Security alerts;
• Important account notifications;
• Important changes to our terms or policies.

Some of these notifications are necessary to maintain or protect your account and may not be possible to turn off while the account remains active.

Optional marketing messages, if you have actively signed up to receive them. You can withdraw your marketing choice or unsubscribe using the method provided.

4. Legal bases for EU/EEA and UK users

For users in the EU/EEA, Read Pulse processes personal data in accordance with the GDPR.

For users in the United Kingdom, Read Pulse processes personal data in accordance with the UK GDPR and the data protection rules currently in force in the United Kingdom.

Depending on the activity, we rely on the following legal bases:

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we weigh the need to operate and protect Read Pulse against the rights and interests of our users.

Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before the withdrawal.

5. Cookies and similar technologies

Read Pulse uses cookies, local storage and similar technologies where needed in order to:

• Keep you signed in;
• Protect your account and the website;
• Maintain guest sessions for CYOA or Gamification;
• Remember your reader settings;
• Remember certain interface or narration choices;
• Measure how the website is used (Google Analytics);
• Show advertising, limit how often an ad is repeated, measure ads and, where allowed, personalise them.

Cookies and data stored in your browser are classified by purpose, for example:

• Strictly necessary: so the website and your account work;
• Functional: to remember your choices;
• Analytics: to measure how the website is used;
• Advertising: to show, measure and, where allowed, personalise ads.

Read Pulse has a separate Cookie Policy describing the specific cookie or storage names, the provider, the purpose and the storage duration.

Read Pulse uses Google Analytics (provided by Google) to understand how visitors use the website, for example which pages are viewed, how long visits last and roughly where visitors come from. Google Analytics sets its own cookies in your browser and receives technical data such as your IP address, device and browser information and the pages you visit. Read Pulse uses these statistics in aggregate to improve the service; it does not use them to identify you or to show you advertising.

Advertising

Read Pulse is free to read and is funded in part by advertising. Ads are delivered through TagMesh, which loads Google Ad Manager on Read Pulse pages. Ads can appear on any page, including within chapters and CYOA scenes, as a bar fixed to the edge of the screen, or occasionally full screen between pages.

When a page with ads loads, your browser contacts Google and, through Google’s ad exchange, other advertising companies that bid to show an ad. They receive technical data such as your IP address, device and browser information, the address of the Read Pulse page and identifiers stored in cookies. Google and these companies may set or read their own cookies and use this data to choose, limit, measure and protect ads and to prevent fraud. Unless you have opted out (see below), they may also combine it with your activity on other websites to show ads based on your interests (personalised or targeted advertising).

Read Pulse does not give advertising providers your email address, date of birth, account details, reading progress, comments or Gamification conversations.

Your choices about advertising:

• Read Pulse uses Google’s privacy and messaging tools for advertising choices. Depending on where you are, they may ask for your consent or show a “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” link on the page; you can use it at any time to opt out of the sale or sharing of your data for targeted advertising.
• You can manage the ads Google shows you at My Ad Center (https://myadcenter.google.com) and read how Google uses data from sites that use its services at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
• You can opt out of interest-based ads from many advertising companies at https://optout.aboutads.info (United States) or https://www.youronlinechoices.eu (Europe).
• You can block or delete advertising cookies in your browser. You will still see ads, but they will be less relevant to you.

The Cookie Policy lists the advertising cookies Read Pulse knows to be set on its own domain and explains the cookies set by Google and its partners.

You can limit Google Analytics by blocking or deleting its cookies in your browser, or by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on (https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout). The Cookie Policy lists the cookies Google Analytics uses.

6. What is public and what is private?

Not all of the data in a Read Pulse account is displayed to other people.

For accounts belonging to users aged 13–17, the settings relating to the profile, reading activity, reading lists and followers/following are set to a higher level of privacy by default.

When posting content in a public area, you should think carefully before sharing your phone number, address, financial or health information, or other sensitive information.

7. Sharing data with providers and third parties

Read Pulse does not sell users’ personal data for money. However, as described under “Advertising”, Google and other advertising companies collect data through ads on Read Pulse pages. Under some laws, including certain US state privacy laws, this may count as “selling” or “sharing” personal data for targeted advertising; see “Users in the United States” for how to opt out.

To operate the service, Read Pulse uses a number of providers, including:

Providers only receive the data necessary for the function they provide, and are governed by appropriate agreements, data protection terms and safeguards. Google and the advertising companies that buy ads through Google use the data they collect through ads under their own privacy policies.

Read Pulse may also disclose data where:

• Required by law or by a lawful request from a competent authority;
• Necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of Read Pulse, its users or others;
• There is a lawful restructuring, transfer or change in the operation of the service.

Content you actively post in a public area of Read Pulse may be seen by other users or by visitors from the internet.

Aggregated and anonymised data

Read Pulse may use information that has been aggregated or processed so that it no longer identifies a specific user, in order to:

• Understand how features are used;
• Assess the performance of the service;
• Identify reading or usage trends at an overall level;
• Improve Read Pulse.

Where data has been genuinely anonymised and can no longer be linked to an individual, it is not treated as personal data under this Policy, unless applicable law provides otherwise.

Third-party websites and services

Read Pulse may contain links to third-party websites or services.

When you leave Read Pulse and use another website or service, that party’s collection and processing of data is governed by their own policies. Read Pulse does not control how independent third-party services process data outside the scope of the Read Pulse service.

8. International data transfers

Read Pulse uses service providers and infrastructure that may process data in countries or regions other than the one you live in.

As a result, your data may be transferred to or processed in a country other than the country from which you access Read Pulse.

For the data of EU/EEA and UK users, where data is transferred to a region that is not recognised as providing an equivalent level of data protection, Read Pulse applies a transfer mechanism that complies with the law, such as:

• The EU Standard Contractual Clauses;
• The UK International Data Transfer Agreement;
• The UK Addendum;
• Or another applicable lawful mechanism.

If you would like to know more about how your data is processed or transferred, you can contact: [email protected]

9. How long do we keep your data?

Read Pulse does not keep all data for the same period of time.

The retention period depends on:

• The purpose for which we need the data;
• The type and sensitivity of the data;
• Operational and security needs;
• The ability to prevent fraud or abuse;
• Legal requirements;
• The need to resolve disputes or complaints;
• Your actions, such as requesting deletion of data or of your account.

As a general principle:

When data is no longer necessary, Read Pulse will delete it or convert it into a form that no longer identifies an individual, where appropriate.

10. Your rights and choices

The rights in this section apply to personal data relating to you that Read Pulse processes.

Those rights do not mean that you have the right to access or control:

• The personal data of other users;
• The source code of Read Pulse;
• Algorithms or trade secrets;
• Stories and content belonging to Read Pulse or its licensors;
• Other intellectual property,

except to the extent that the law requires Read Pulse to provide or handle your own personal data.

Tools you can use yourself

Depending on the features available in your account, you may be able to:

• Edit your profile;
• Manage your public or private settings;
• Turn personalized recommendations on or off;
• Manage marketing and notifications;
• Download your data;
• Delete your reading data or social data;
• Delete your account;
• Delete guest session data where that feature is supported.

EU/EEA and UK users

Depending on the processing activity and the corresponding legal basis, you may have the right to:

• Request access to your data;
• Request correction of inaccurate data;
• Request deletion of your data;
• Request restriction of processing;
• Object to certain processing activities;
• Receive your data in a transferable format where the right to data portability applies;
• Withdraw consent for activities based on consent.

Some rights are subject to exceptions or limitations under the law.

If you wish to exercise a right relating to your personal data, you can contact: [email protected]

Users in the United States

To the extent that federal law or the law of the state where you reside applies to Read Pulse, you may have rights such as:

• To know about or access your personal data;
• To correct inaccurate data;
• To request deletion;
• To obtain a copy of your data;
• To opt out of the sale or sharing of data, where the law so provides;
• To opt out of targeted advertising or certain kinds of profiling, if any;
• To submit a request for reconsideration of certain privacy decisions;
• Not to be treated unfairly for exercising your rights under the law.

At present Read Pulse:

• Does not sell personal data for money;
• Shows ads through Google Ad Manager, which allows Google and other advertising companies to collect data through Read Pulse pages and use it for targeted advertising. Under some state laws this may be treated as a “sale” or “sharing” of personal data;
• Shows a “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” link, provided through Google’s privacy and messaging tools, that you can use to opt out of this.

You can also send an opt-out request to [email protected].

11. How to exercise your rights, download your data and delete your account

Download My Data

If the feature is available in your account, you can download a copy of the data that Read Pulse supports exporting at:

Settings → Your Data → Download My Data

Clear Reading and Social Data

You can delete the reading data or social data covered by the scope described in the interface, without deleting your entire account.

Delete Account

You can request deletion of your account using the Delete Account function.

When an account is deleted, some data may still be retained temporarily where it is held in:

• Backups whose cycle has not yet completed;
• Records necessary to handle safety or moderation matters;
• Data that must be kept by law;
• Records necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal rights.

Such data is kept only to the extent and for the period necessary, and is then deleted or anonymised where appropriate.

Submitting a request directly

If you cannot make your request through the tools in your account, or you would like further assistance, please send your request to:

[email protected]

You can request:

• Access to your data;
• Correction of your data;
• Deletion of your data;
• Restriction of processing;
• Objection to processing;
• A copy of your data, or the exercise of portability rights where applicable;
• Privacy support;
• To complain about how your data has been handled.

To protect your account and your data, Read Pulse may need to verify your identity before carrying out certain requests.

Read Pulse will handle requests within the time limits set by applicable law. For EU/EEA and UK users, the usual response time is one month, except where the law permits an extension.

12. Children’s and young people’s privacy

Read Pulse is not intended for people under the age of 13.

If a date of birth indicates that a user is under 13, the system does not allow an account to be created.

If Read Pulse later discovers that an account belongs to someone under 13, the account may be restricted and the necessary steps will be taken to handle or delete the data in accordance with applicable law.

Users aged 13–17

For accounts belonging to users aged 13 to 17, Read Pulse applies a higher level of privacy by default, including:

• A private profile;
• Private reading activity;
• Private reading lists;
• Private followers/following;
• Personalized recommendations turned off by default;
• Marketing turned off by default.

Certain content or features may also be restricted by age.

Ads appear on Read Pulse pages for all visitors. Read Pulse does not give advertising providers a user’s date of birth or age.

Where an underage user changes a setting that increases visibility, or turns on an optional processing activity, Read Pulse will provide appropriate and easily understandable information at the point of that choice.

If a parent, guardian or user becomes aware of an issue relating to the account or data of someone who is underage, they can contact: [email protected]

13. Security, moderation and automated processing

13.1. How we protect your data

Read Pulse uses several layers of protection to reduce the risk of your data or your account being accessed, altered, disclosed or used without authorisation.

For example, Read Pulse:

• Protects the connection between your device and the website;
• Does not store passwords in a directly readable form;
• Uses email verification and sign-in protection measures;
• Rate-limits unusual requests or sign-in attempts in order to reduce spam and automated attacks;
• Restricts access to administrative systems and data on a need-to-know basis;
• Records important administrative actions so they can be reviewed when needed;
• Maintains backups and data recovery measures;
• Reviews and remediates security issues or vulnerabilities that are discovered;
• Maintains a process for handling data-related incidents.

Security measures may be updated over time as systems or risks change.

However, no website, computer system or method of transmitting data over the internet can be guaranteed to be absolutely secure.

If you discover an issue that may affect the security of Read Pulse or of user accounts, please contact: [email protected]

13.2. Reports and moderation

To protect the community and enforce the Read Pulse rules, we may process:

• The content of a report;
• The content that was reported;
• The reason for the report;
• The moderation decision;
• The reason for that decision;
• Appeals;
• The outcome of appeals.

Reports are not displayed publicly.

The identity of the person who submitted a report is not automatically disclosed to the person who was reported.

Moderation decisions affecting content or accounts are made by people. Read Pulse does not currently give AI the power to make final moderation decisions about user accounts automatically.

If you wish to report content, an account or behaviour, or to complain about a moderation decision, you can use the report/appeal tools on Read Pulse or contact: [email protected]

13.3. Automated processing

Read Pulse uses a limited number of automated processes.

Recommendations: if you turn personalized recommendations on, the system may use your reading history or the genres you are interested in to suggest stories.

Age controls: your date of birth may be used to determine automatically whether you can access content or features appropriate to your age.

Read Pulse does not currently use fully automated systems to make decisions that produce legal effects, or similarly significant effects, for users.

14. Changes to this Privacy Policy

Read Pulse may update this Policy when:

• Read Pulse features change;
• The way data is processed changes;
• Service providers change;
• Or legal requirements change.

Each version of the Policy will show its version number, effective date and last-updated date.

Previous versions may be kept so that users can compare them.

If there is a significant change that materially affects how your data is processed or your rights, Read Pulse may notify you by email, by a notice on the website, by banner or by another appropriate method.

If a new processing activity requires your consent, Read Pulse will ask for the appropriate choice before carrying out that activity.

15. Contact, requests and complaints

If you:

• Have a question about this Privacy Policy;
• Want to know what data Read Pulse is processing about you;
• Want to correct or delete data;
• Want to exercise a right relating to your personal data;
• Want to report an issue with content, an account or behaviour;
• Want to appeal a moderation decision;
• Discover a security issue;
• Or want to complain about how Read Pulse has handled your data,

please contact Read Pulse directly at:

[email protected]

When submitting a request, please provide enough information for Read Pulse to identify the issue and assist you. In some cases, we may need to verify your identity or your control of the account before carrying out the request.

Read Pulse will review and respond to requests relating to privacy, security, reports or complaints through the email address above.