Privacy Policy
Last Updated: November 12, 2026 • Effective Date: Immediately upon publication
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1. Introduction
Welcome to Shadow News(“we”, “us”, “our”), a modern hyperlocal digital news and media platform operated by Page Perfect Tech. We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring transparency regarding how your personal information is collected, stored, used, and shared.
This Privacy Policy applies to our mobile applications (Android APK, Google Play releases, iOS apps), website (shadownews.in, m.shadownews.in), and associated backend services. By installing, downloading, browsing, or using Shadow News, you consent to the data practices described in this policy.
2. Information We Collect
When you register or log in, we collect your mobile phone number for secure OTP authentication. Optional profile data includes your name, email address, language preference (Telugu/English), and profile avatar.
With your permission, we collect your approximate or precise geographic coordinates to deliver news stories, weather, and civic alerts specific to your State, District, and Mandal in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Citizens applying to become verified Ground Reporters provide identification credentials, assigned operational mandals, and bank/UPI payment payout details for revenue disbursements.
We collect device hardware details, operating system version, unique installation IDs, IP addresses, and Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) tokens required to deliver breaking news alerts.
3. Device Permissions We Request
Our mobile app may request the following permissions only when necessary for specific features:
- Location (ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION / ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION): Used to match your location to your local district/mandal for customized regional news. You can manually choose your district without granting location access.
- Camera & Storage/Photos (CAMERA / READ_MEDIA_IMAGES): Used exclusively by reporters when capturing or uploading news photos, video footage, or updating user profile avatars.
- Push Notifications (POST_NOTIFICATIONS): Used to deliver critical breaking news and regional public safety alerts. You may disable notifications at any time in app settings.
4. How We Use Your Information
- To deliver real-time news articles, video shorts, and localized regional feeds.
- To authenticate user sessions via secure SMS OTP.
- To calculate and process reporter payout rewards and maintain verified journalistic transparency.
- To moderate user-submitted comments, detect duplicate stories, and prevent hate speech or misinformation.
- To analyze aggregate usage trends to optimize app speed, battery efficiency, and CDN caching.
5. Third-Party Services & Data Sharing
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties. We only share data with essential infrastructure providers under strict confidentiality agreements:
- Cloudflare R2 & CDN: For fast, secure worldwide distribution of news images and media.
- Google Firebase: For real-time authentication and FCM push notifications.
- Neon PostgreSQL: Encrypted, serverless database hosting for application state.
- Google AdMob & Direct Sponsors: To display non-intrusive banner and native advertisements that fund our ground journalism operations.
6. Data Security & Encryption
We enforce industry-standard security protocols, including TLS 1.3 encryption in transit, strict bcrypt password hashing, encrypted database connections with SSL mode required, and JWT token authorization for all administrative endpoints.
7. Data Retention & Your Deletion Rights
Under applicable data protection regulations including the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP), you have the right to access, rectify, or request deletion of your personal data.
To initiate an account and data wipe, visit our dedicated online deletion page at shadownews.in/delete-account or email us at admin@shadownews.in. Upon request, your account is immediately deactivated and personal identifiers permanently removed from active databases within 30 days.
8. Contact & Grievance Redressal
If you have any questions, concerns, or grievances regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please reach out to our designated Grievance Officer:
Organization: Shadow News / Page Perfect Tech
Grievance Officer: Editorial & Compliance Department
Official Email: admin@shadownews.in
Operational Head: Hyderabad, Telangana, India