Privacy Policy

Last Updated: 8/30/2023

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and share your information when you use our mobile application.

Our goal is to be transparent regarding what information we do and do not have access to and where this information is shared, so before we begin, we would like to emphasize the following:

Fizz does not, and will never, sell your personal information to third parties.

Fizz is not currently affiliated with any school or education institution, and Fizz will never disclose your identity or anonymous posts unless required by law or to law enforcement to ensure the safety of our communities.


Account Creation

When creating an account, you will be asked to verify your phone number with a verification code and provide a university email address. Next, you will be prompted to sign into your Google or Microsoft account to verify that you are the owner of your provided email address. In this sign in process, we receive a credential that certifies that you successfully signed in (indicating that you are the owner of your email address).

Additionally, if you do not wish to verify your email address by signing in with Google or Microsoft, you can click the “Trouble logging in?” button to verify your email by clicking on an email verification link.


Why do we require a school email?

To ensure the safety of our communities (so that each community is only accessible to verified members of the community), we require users to verify that they are the owner of an email address with the corresponding .edu domain to their community.


Children and Family

While we allow minor children and young teenagers, provided that they satisfy the other account requirements, to use Fizz, only parents, legal guardians, or other adults are allowed to make purchases through our Services and children under 13 are not authorized to use Fizz or make accounts.


Content you create on Fizz

When you interact with the Fizz app, we collect the information and content you create. For example, we review the text and/or image content of your posts, replies, chat messages, and collect metadata regarding such messages that may collect the identity of the user and any users they communicate with. All posts and replies are public and are publicly displayed. They may be viewed, shared and modified by our users, us and others for commercial or personal purposes (consistent with the rights and licenses in our Terms of Use). Your personal information is never publicly visible to other users or moderators in the Fizz app, but please keep in mind that if you include information that could identify you in the text or image of a post, people who see it may determine your identity. Fizz does not post chat messages publicly but, as with any message that you send via any service, the recipient might do so. Fizz has no obligation to keep private any information that you disclose to other users or the public using these functions. You should exercise caution when deciding to disclose Personal Information through the use of these tools or functions. We strongly recommend that you do not post any information through the Services that allows strangers to identify or locate you or that you otherwise do not want to share with the public.


Other Information Collected When You Use Fizz

Usage Information: We collect information about your use of the Services, including access times, pages and posts viewed, user and post interactions (e.g. upvotes, downvotes, likes, dislikes, comments, flags) and other information about your interactions with us, the Services and other users. We use this information to, among other things, personalize your experience, provide and improve the Services, and monitor and analyze use of the Services.

Device Information: We collect information about the device you use to access our Services, which may include the hardware model, operating system and version, browser type and language, unique device identifiers and mobile network information. Among other things, we use this information to customize the Service for your device, to provide customer service and support, to deliver the products and services you request, to deliver notifications, for user safety, and for analytics and authentication.

Information Collected by Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies: Like most websites and applications, we and our service providers use cookies, web beacons and other technologies to collect information. Cookies are small data files stored on your hard drive or in device memory that help us and our service providers to, among other things, improve our Services and your experience by seeing which areas and features of our Services are popular.

Log Information: We collect information in our log files when you use the Services. This includes, among other things, your browser and device type, language, access times, pages viewed, your IP address, and the URL you visited before navigating to our websites. We use log information to provide, understand, and improve our Services.


Information Shared Outside of Fizz

When you use the Services, certain information may be shared with other users and the public. For example:

  • Any post posted to the Services is public and, as a result, others may be able to see your psuedonym at the time the message/media was posted, the text and image contents of your post, and the community in which you posted your message/media.

  • When you use Fizz's chat messaging function to directly contact another user, the recipient of your chat message will see your pseudonym and the contents of your message. The recipient may also choose to disclose your chat messages to others.

  • If you invite others to try Fizz via SMS, email or otherwise, those individuals may see your name, phone number, email address or other contact information.

We may also share information as follows or as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy:

  • With vendors, consultants and other service providers who need access to such information to carry out work on our behalf;

  • If we believe your actions are inconsistent with our user agreements or policies, or to protect the rights, property and safety of Fizz or others;

  • In connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing or acquisition of all or a portion of our business by another company;

  • Between and among Fizz, and its current and future parents, affiliates, subsidiaries, and other companies under common control and ownership;

  • In order to comply with a law, regulation, legal process, governmental request or law enforcement action, the compliance of which is either legally required or, at Fizz’s discretion, to law enforcement to ensure the safety of our communities.

We may also share aggregated or de-identified information, which cannot reasonably be used to identify you.


Social Sharing

The Services may offer social sharing features and other integrated tools, which let you share content with other media. Your use of such features enables the sharing of information with your friends or the public, depending on the settings you establish with the entity that provides the social sharing feature. For more information about the purpose and scope of data collection and processing in connection with social sharing features, please visit the privacy policies of the entities that provide these features.


Other information you may provide to us

You may provide other information directly to us. For example, we may collect information when you fill out a form, update your account, apply for a job at our company, communicate with us via third-party social media sites, request customer support or otherwise communicate with us.


Your Account and Content

Your content remains public, if they were posted publicly, so long as you or we do not delete them from the Services. You may choose to delete your individual posts or comments at any time and we will then remove them from the Services. However, it is important to note that your deleted posts may remain in storage in our systems for a limited period of time for legal, business, safety, or system backup reasons, and they may remain accessible in cached and archived pages of the Services or elsewhere if others have chosen to copy or save them. Search engines and other sites may also index and cache content on our Services. You may have to contact these third-party sites or search engines directly to delete your cached information, subject to their policies and procedures.

If you wish to delete your account, you can click the ‘Forget Me’ button in settings from inside the application. You can also delete your account by using the “Email Support” link in settings from inside the application (or email info@fizzsocial.app), but note that we may retain certain information as required by law, for legitimate business purposes or for the safety of Fizz (including its users) and others. We may also retain cached or archived copies of information about you for a certain period of time.


Where Information Is Processed

Fizz Social Corp. is based in the United States and the information we collect is governed by U.S. law. By accessing or using the Services or otherwise providing information to us, you consent to the processing and transfer of information in and to the U.S. and other countries.

You also agree to abide by applicable law concerning your use of the Services and your agreements with us. Any persons accessing the Services from any jurisdiction with laws or regulations governing the use of the Internet, including personal data collection, use and disclosure, different from those of the jurisdictions mentioned above may only use the Services in a manner lawful in their jurisdiction. If your use of the Services would be unlawful in your jurisdiction, you may not use the Services, and your information may be made available in response to government or law enforcement requests.


Data Retention

We keep information related to your Account for as long as it is needed to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, to provide our services, to deal with possible legal claims, to comply with our business interests and/or to abide by all applicable laws. Thereafter, we either delete your information about you or de-identify it. Please note that even if you request the deletion of Personal Information about you, we may be required (by law or otherwise) to retain the Personal Information and not delete it. However, once those requirements are removed, we will delete Personal Information about you in accordance with your request.


Changes To Our Privacy Policy

Our security and Privacy Policy are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary. This Privacy Policy might change as we update and expand the Services. You can tell when this Privacy Policy was last updated by reviewing the Last Updated-legend on top of this page. We will endeavor to notify you of these changes by email, but will not be liable for any failure to do so. We also encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically. If you do not understand any of the terms or conditions of any of our policies, you may inquire regarding the same via email at info@fizzsocial.app. Your continued use of the Services after any change in this Privacy Policy will constitute your acceptance of such change.


Contact Information

If you have any questions or comments about this notice, the ways in which we collect and use your information described here, your choices and rights regarding such use, or wish to exercise your rights, please do not hesitate to contact us at:

Email: info@fizzsocial.app

Postal Address:

Fizz Social Corp.

Attn: Fizz - Privacy Department

480 California Ave, Palo Alto CA 94306


California Residents

California Civil Code Section 1798.83 requires certain businesses that share customer Personal Information with third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes to respond to requests from California customers asking about the businesses’ practices related to such information-sharing. We currently do not share or disclose your Personal Information to third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes.  If we change our practices in the future, we will implement an opt-out policy as required under California laws.

Furthermore, subject to certain exemptions, California residents have the following rights with respect to Personal Information we may have collected about them:

Requests to Know

You have the right to request that we disclose:

  • The categories of Personal Information we have collected about you;

  • The categories of Personal Information about you we have sold or disclosed for a business purpose;

  • The categories of sources from which we have collected Personal Information about you;

  • The business or commercial purposes for selling or collecting Personal Information about you;

  • The categories of Personal Information sold or shared, if any, about you, as well as the categories of third parties to whom the Personal Information was sold, by category of Personal Information for each party to whom Personal Information was sold; and

  • The specific pieces of Personal Information collected.

You may submit a request to know via info@fizzsocial.app. The delivery of our response may take place electronically or by mail. We are not required to respond to requests to know more than twice in a 12-month period.

We do not sell, and have not in the prior 12 months sold, Personal Information about California residents. Therefore, we have not included a “Do Not Sell My Personal Info” link on our Site. If our practices change, we will update this Privacy Policy and take any other necessary action to comply with applicable law. We do, however, disclose Personal Information for business purposes as described in the “Third Parties We Share Personal Information With” section above.

Requests to Delete

You have the right to request that we delete any Personal Information about you that we have collected. Upon receiving a verified request to delete Personal Information, we will do so unless otherwise required or authorized by law. You may submit a request to delete Personal Information by emailing us at info@fizzsocial.app.


DATA SECURITY

We understand the importance of privacy and security of Personal Information to our users and have made them a priority.  Fizz uses a variety of industry-standard security technologies and procedures to help protect Personal Information about you from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure and trains Fizz employees on privacy and security issues. However, we cannot guarantee that unauthorized third parties will never be able to overcome those measures or use your Personal Information for improper purposes, and we do not promise that Personal Information about you or private communications will be protected from unauthorized disclosure or use.


DELETION REQUEST RIGHTS

You have the right to request that we delete any Personal Information about you that we have collected. Upon receiving a verified request to delete Personal Information, we will do so unless otherwise required or authorized by law. You may submit a request to delete Personal Information via emailing us at info@fizzsocial.app.

Methods for Submitting Consumer Requests and Our Response to Requests

You may submit a request for access and requests to delete Personal Information about you via:

  • via email at info@fizzsocial.app

Upon receipt of a request, we may ask you for additional information to verify your identity. Any additional information you provide will be used only to verify your identity and not for any other purpose.

We will acknowledge the receipt of your request within 10 days of receipt. Subject to our ability to verify your identity, we will respond to your request within 45 days of receipt. If we require more time (up to 90 days), we will inform you of the reason and extension period in writing.  In order to protect your privacy and the security of Personal Information about you, we verify your request by asking you to login to your user account.

Any disclosures we provide will only cover the 12-month period preceding the verifiable consumer request's receipt. The response we provide will also explain the reasons we cannot comply with a request, if applicable.

We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded. If we determine that the request warrants a fee, we will tell you why we made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate before completing your request.


NON-DISCRIMINATION

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights. Unless permitted by the CCPA, we will not:

  • Deny you goods or services.

  • Charge you different prices or rates for goods or services, including through granting discounts or other benefits, or imposing penalties.

  • Provide you a different level or quality of goods or services.

  • Suggest that you may receive a different price or rate for goods or services or a different level or quality of goods or services.

However, we may offer you certain financial incentives permitted by the CCPA that can result in different prices, rates, or quality levels. Any CCPA-permitted financial incentive we offer will reasonably relate to your personal information’s value and contain written terms that describe the program’s material aspects. Participation in a financial incentive program requires your prior opt in consent, which you may revoke at any time.


CROSS-BORDER DATA TRANSFERS

Fizz is based in the United States.  As a result, Personal Information that we collect in and through the Services and on the Site may be transferred to our U.S. offices. In addition, we may work with third-party service providers in the U.S. and in other countries to support our business activities. Thus, Personal Information may be transferred to, stored on servers in, and accessed from the United States and countries other than the country in which the Personal Information was initially collected. In all such instances, we use, transfer, and disclose Personal Information solely for the purposes described in this Privacy Notice and in compliance with applicable laws.