PRIVACY POLICY

We collect information you provide directly, information generated automatically when you use the Platform, and information from third parties.

1.1 Information You Provide

• Account registration: When you create an account, we collect your display name, username, email address, and password (stored as a secure hash).
• Date of birth: Collected to confirm you meet our minimum age requirement. It is recorded once and cannot be changed afterwards. If you sign up with Google, or created your account before we began asking, we request it the next time you sign in instead. If the date you enter indicates you are under 13, the date is not stored and the account is not created — or, where one already exists, it is deleted.
• Profile information: Optional details such as a profile photo, bio, location, and website URL.
• Debate content: Audio, video, and text you transmit during live debates, including chat messages, ratings, and votes.
• Communications: Messages you send to our support team or through any contact form.
• Payment information: If you choose to support the project, the payment is handled entirely by our payment processor, Stripe, on Stripe’s own checkout page. We never see or store your card details. Stripe tells us that a payment was made, its amount, and the email address you gave at checkout. Supporting is optional and buys nothing: no feature, badge or perk depends on it.

1.2 Information Collected Automatically

• Usage data: Pages visited, features used, debates watched, ratings submitted, time spent on the Platform, and click patterns.
• Device information: IP address, browser type and version, operating system, device identifiers, and screen resolution.
• Log data: Server logs including request timestamps, error logs, and referring URLs.
• Cookies and similar technologies: We use cookies, local storage, and similar technologies as described in Section 6.
• Live stream metadata: Start/end times, viewer counts, round results, and sentiment data from debates you participate in or watch.

1.3 Information from Third Parties

• Social sign-in: If you log in via Google, we receive your name, email address, and profile photo from that provider, subject to your settings with them. If we add further sign-in providers, the same applies to them.
• Video infrastructure: Recorded video and audio are stored with Cloudflare R2. Live debates connect the two debaters’ browsers directly; where a direct connection is not possible, Cloudflare’s relay (TURN) carries the connection and may process technical metadata about it.

We use the information we collect to:

• Create and manage your account, and authenticate your identity on each login.
• Deliver live debates, chat, voting, ratings, and leaderboard features.
• Process optional support payments and issue receipts (through Stripe).
• Personalize your experience, including ranking you on the leaderboard and surfacing relevant debates.
• Send transactional notifications (challenge requests, debate start alerts, rating results) based on your notification preferences.
• Send service updates, security alerts, and policy change notices.
• Detect, investigate, and prevent abuse, fraud, illegal activity, and violations of our Community Guidelines.
• Comply with legal obligations, including responding to lawful requests from law enforcement.
• Analyze usage trends and improve the Platform.
• Enforce our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines.

We do not sell your personal information. We share information only in the following circumstances:

3.1 Public Information

Your display name, username, avatar, points, rank and win rate are visible to other users and to the public, and so are the debates and recordings you take part in, with your name on them. Your bio and the history shown on your profile page can be hidden in your Privacy settings, but your name still appears on the debates themselves.

Your individual votes and scores are not shown to anyone, including the debaters. Only totals and averages are published, and only once voting has closed. Your date of birth, notification settings and last-active time are private.

3.2 Service Providers

We share information with trusted vendors who help us operate the Platform, including:

• Supabase — database and authentication.
• Cloudflare — video storage (R2) and content delivery. Where we enable it, Cloudflare also relays live debates that cannot connect directly (TURN).
• Google — a STUN server that helps two browsers find each other when a live debate starts. It sees your IP address for that moment and nothing else: no account details, debate content or video.
• Stripe — processing optional support payments. Stripe handles your card details directly under its own privacy policy.
• Vercel — web hosting and edge delivery.
• Zoho — email hosting for our contact addresses.

If we add another service provider that handles your information (for example an email delivery service), we will update this list before it begins.

All service providers are contractually required to use your data only to perform services on our behalf and to protect it appropriately.

3.3 Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if required by law, court order, or governmental authority, or if we believe disclosure is necessary to protect the safety of any person, to address fraud or security issues, or to enforce our Terms of Service.

3.4 NCMEC Reporting

Federal law (18 U.S.C. § 2258A) requires us to report apparent child sexual abuse material (CSAM) to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) CyberTipline. If we become aware of such content on the Platform, we will report it and may preserve and disclose associated account data to NCMEC and law enforcement.

3.5 Business Transfers

If Master Debater LLC is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you via email or a notice on the Platform before your information is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

Video and audio are central to this Platform, and most of what you record is kept. There are two ways a debate happens here, and they handle your video differently.

4.1 Recorded debates and daily takes

When you record a take or a debate turn, the recording is made on your own device and uploaded to our storage. It is stored, and it is shown to other people once it is published.

• Where it is stored: Cloudflare R2. Files are private and are served through short-lived links rather than public URLs.
• When it becomes visible: A take is public as soon as you post it. A debate turn stays private until both debaters have submitted that phase, after which both are published together.
• How long: See Section 5.

4.2 Live debates

A live debate connects you and your opponent directly, browser to browser. There is no live audience — nobody else watches while it happens. Each of you records your own camera and microphone locally, and those recordings are uploaded afterwards so the community can watch and vote on the debate.

• Your IP address is visible to your opponent. A direct browser-to-browser connection requires each side to learn the other’s network address. This is how the underlying technology (WebRTC) works and is not something we can switch off while keeping the connection direct. An IP address can indicate an approximate location. Only accept a live debate with someone you are comfortable connecting to directly.
• Relay fallback: Where a direct connection cannot be made, the connection is relayed through Cloudflare instead. In that case your opponent sees the relay’s address rather than yours.
• We do not receive the live stream. The live audio and video pass between the two browsers and are not transmitted to or stored by us. Only the recordings each side uploads afterwards reach our storage.

4.3 Moderation

• What else is retained: Chat, ratings, votes, points and debate results are stored and stay associated with the debate after it ends.
• Review: We do not pre-screen recordings or monitor live debates. We act on user reports and on information available to us. See our Community Guidelines.
• Removal: We may remove any recording and terminate any debate that violates our Community Guidelines or applicable law.

We retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide services. Specifically:

• Account data: Retained for the life of your account. Deleted within 30 days of a verified account deletion request, except where legal obligations require longer retention.
• Date of birth: Retained for the life of the account, as the record that the age requirement was met, and removed when the account is deleted.
• Recordings: Takes and debate turns are stored indefinitely while your account is active, so that debates remain watchable after they finish. When you delete your account, your recordings are deleted from storage. If we introduce automatic expiry for older recordings, we will update this policy before it takes effect.
• What happens to debates when you delete your account: Debates only you took part in, such as challenges nobody accepted and your daily takes, are deleted. Debates another person took part in are kept, because they are that person’s record too. Your name, username and picture are replaced with “Deleted user” and your recordings are removed; theirs remain. Your chat messages are deleted. Your votes on other debates are kept but anonymised (your identity is removed and the scores stay), so finished debates keep the results the crowd gave them.
• Payment records: Kept by Stripe, and by us as a record that a payment occurred, for as long as tax and accounting rules require. They are not deleted when your account is deleted.
• Log data: Up to 90 days.
• Moderation records: If we take action against an account (for example removing content or suspending the account), we keep a record of it for as long as needed to enforce that decision and prevent evasion.

We use the following types of cookies and similar technologies:

• Essential cookies: Required for login sessions, security tokens, and core Platform functionality. Cannot be disabled.
• Preference cookies: Remember your settings such as notification preferences and filter selections.
• Temporary recording storage: During a live debate, your own recording is saved in your browser’s local storage (IndexedDB) as it is made, so that a crash or refresh doesn’t lose it. It stays on your device, is uploaded when your side ends, and is deleted from the device once the upload is confirmed.

We do not currently use analytics cookies, third-party advertising cookies, or any cross-site tracking, and we do not sell your browsing data. If we introduce analytics, we will update this section first and will use a provider that does not build cross-site profiles.

You can manage cookie preferences in your browser settings, though disabling essential cookies will break login functionality.

Do Not Track

Some browsers offer a "Do Not Track" (DNT) signal. There is no common industry standard for interpreting it. Because we do not track users across third-party websites in the first place, we do not currently respond to DNT signals differently — there is no cross-site tracking to disable. If that ever changes, we will update this section.

Depending on where you live, you may have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Correction: Update inaccurate or incomplete information via your profile settings.
• Deletion: Request deletion of your account and associated personal data. Some data may be retained as required by law.
• Portability: Request an export of your data in a machine-readable format via Settings → Privacy → Download my data.
• Opt-out of notifications: Manage all notification preferences in Settings → Notifications.
• Profile visibility: Control who can see your profile, stats, and online status in Settings → Privacy.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@masterdebater.fun. We will respond within 30 days. We may need to verify your identity before processing certain requests.

Several U.S. states give residents specific rights over their personal information. This section explains those rights and how they apply here. It supplements Section 7 and does not replace it.

8.1 Notice at Collection (California)

In the twelve months preceding the date of this policy, we have collected the following categories of personal information, as those categories are defined by the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA):

• Identifiers — display name, username, email address, IP address, account identifiers. Source: you, and your sign-in provider. Purpose: account creation, authentication, communication, security.
• Protected classification characteristics — date of birth, collected once at signup. Source: you. Purpose: age eligibility only. It is not used for personalisation, advertising, or profiling.
• Internet or network activity — pages visited, features used, debates watched, ratings submitted, server logs. Source: automatic collection. Purpose: operating the Platform, security, abuse prevention.
• Audio and visual information — recordings of your takes and debate turns, and profile photos. Source: you. Purpose: operating debates and showing them to other users. As described in Section 4, these recordings are stored; live debates themselves pass directly between browsers and are not transmitted to us.
• Commercial information — none currently, as we do not process payments.
• Geolocation data — we do not collect precise geolocation. Approximate location may be inferred from IP address for security purposes.
• Inferences — leaderboard standing, ratings, and debate statistics derived from your activity. Purpose: delivering the competitive features of the Platform.

We retain each category for the periods described in Section 5. We disclose personal information to the service providers listed in Section 3.2 for business purposes only.

8.2 We Do Not Sell or Share Your Personal Information

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, as those terms are defined under California law. We have not done so in the preceding twelve months. We do not sell or share the personal information of any user, including anyone we know to be under 16.

8.3 Sensitive Personal Information

We do not collect sensitive personal information for the purpose of inferring characteristics about you, and we do not use or disclose it beyond the purposes permitted without a right to limit. Accordingly, we do not offer a separate "Limit the Use of My Sensitive Personal Information" option, because the underlying uses do not occur.

8.4 Your Rights

Depending on your state of residence — including California, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Texas, Oregon, and Montana — you may have the right to:

• Know and access the specific pieces and categories of personal information we hold about you, the sources, the purposes, and the categories of third parties to whom we disclose it.
• Delete the personal information we hold about you, subject to legal exceptions.
• Correct inaccurate personal information.
• Obtain a portable copy of your data in a machine-readable format.
• Opt out of sale, sharing, targeted advertising, and profiling with legal or similarly significant effects. We do not engage in any of these activities.

You can exercise the access, portability, correction, and deletion rights immediately and without contacting us: Settings → Privacy → Download my data and Delete Account, and Settings → Profile to correct your information.

8.5 Non-Discrimination

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights. We will not deny you services, charge you a different price, or provide you a different level or quality of service because you exercised a privacy right.

8.6 How to Submit a Request

Email privacy@masterdebater.fun from the address associated with your account, describing the right you wish to exercise. We may need to verify your identity before responding, and we may ask for information sufficient to match you to your account. We do not use verification information for any other purpose.

We will respond within 45 days. If we need more time, we will tell you within that period and may extend by a further 45 days where the law allows.

8.7 Authorized Agents

You may use an authorized agent to submit a request on your behalf. We will require written proof of the agent's authority and may still ask you to verify your own identity directly.

8.8 Appeals

If we decline your request and you reside in a state that provides an appeal right — including Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Texas, Oregon, and Montana — you may appeal by replying to our decision with the word "Appeal" and your reasons. We will respond in writing within 45 days with our decision and the reasons for it. If we deny your appeal, we will tell you how to contact your state Attorney General to lodge a complaint.

Master Debater is not directed to children under the age of 13. We ask for a date of birth at signup and do not create an account where the date entered indicates the person is under 13; in that case the date is not stored. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13.

If we discover that we have inadvertently collected personal information from a child under 13, we will delete that information immediately. If you believe we may have information about a child under 13, please contact us at privacy@masterdebater.fun.

If you are between 13 and 17, you may use the Platform only with a parent’s or guardian’s permission. We do not collect or verify that permission ourselves; by creating an account you confirm you have it. Remember that debates and recordings are public.

We take reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your information, including:

• Encryption of data in transit using TLS (HTTPS).
• Passwords stored as bcrypt hashes — never in plain text.
• Access to personal data restricted to employees and contractors who need it to perform their job.
• Regular security reviews and vulnerability assessments.

No method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. If you believe your account has been compromised, contact us immediately at privacy@masterdebater.fun.

The Platform may contain links to third-party websites or integrate with third-party services (such as social sign-in providers). This Privacy Policy does not apply to those third parties. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party services you use.

Master Debater is operated in the United States. If you access the Platform from outside the United States, your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States, where data protection laws may differ from those in your country.

The Platform is operated from, and intended for users in, the United States. It is not directed at or marketed to residents of the European Union or European Economic Area, and we do not offer it in any local language or currency of those regions. If you choose to access the Platform from outside the United States, you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with your local laws.

If you are located in the EU or EEA and have a question about your information, contact us at privacy@masterdebater.fun and we will respond.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. For material changes, we will provide more prominent notice, such as an email notification or an in-app banner, at least 14 days before the change takes effect.

Your continued use of the Platform after any change becomes effective constitutes your acceptance of the new Privacy Policy.

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

We aim to respond to all privacy-related inquiries within 30 days.