1. Introduction
Welcome to Quiz Squirrel ("we," "our," or "us"). We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring you have a positive experience on our platform. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our social quiz platform and services.
By using Quiz Squirrel, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our services.
1a. Data Controller and Legal Basis
The data controller responsible for your personal information is Basement Squirrel Games LLC, a Missouri limited liability company located at 134 Tuscany, Wentzville, MO 63395, United States. You can reach us regarding privacy matters at privacy@quizsquirrel.com.
We have not appointed a Data Protection Officer; our processing does not involve the large-scale, regular and systematic monitoring of individuals or large-scale processing of special-category data that would require one under Article 37 of the GDPR. We have also not appointed an EU/UK representative under Article 27. EU and UK users may contact us directly about any privacy matter at privacy@quizsquirrel.com.
Where the GDPR applies, we rely on the following legal bases (Art. 6 GDPR) to process your personal data:
- Contract: to create and operate your account and provide the services you request (quiz creation, messaging, subscriptions).
- Consent: for non-essential cookies, analytics, advertising, and connecting third-party social accounts. You may withdraw consent at any time.
- Legitimate interests: to secure the platform, prevent fraud and abuse, and improve our services, balanced against your rights.
- Legal obligation: to comply with applicable law and lawful requests.
2. Information We Collect
2.1 Information You Provide
- Account Information: Email address, username, password (encrypted), display name, profile picture, bio, and social media handles
- Content: Quizzes you create, questions, answers, comments, messages, ratings, and other content you post
- Profile Information: Optional information like location, interests, and public-facing profile details
- Communication: Messages you send to other users, support inquiries, and feedback
- Payment Information: For premium subscriptions, we collect billing information through our payment processor (Stripe)
- Social Media: When you connect Facebook or Tumblr accounts, we receive access tokens and page/blog information
2.2 Automatically Collected Information
- Usage Data: Quiz views, completions, interactions, time spent, features used
- Device Information: Browser type, operating system, device type, IP address, user agent
- Log Data: Access times, pages viewed, actions taken, errors encountered
- Cookies and Tracking: Authentication cookies, session data, preferences, analytics
2.3 Information From Third Parties
- Social media platforms (Facebook, Tumblr) when you authorize connections
- Payment processors for transaction verification
- Analytics providers for usage statistics
3. How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect to:
- Provide, maintain, and improve our services
- Create and manage your account
- Enable social features (following, messaging, comments)
- Display your content and profile to other users
- Process quiz completions and display results
- Send notifications about activity on your account
- Process payments and manage subscriptions
- Publish quizzes to connected social media accounts
- Detect and prevent fraud, spam, and abuse
- Enforce our Terms of Service
- Send administrative and marketing communications
- Analyze usage patterns and improve user experience
- Comply with legal obligations
4. How We Share Your Information
4.1 Public Information
The following information is publicly visible to other users and search engines:
- Username, display name, profile picture, and bio
- Quizzes you create (unless saved as drafts)
- Quiz responses and results (if you choose to share them)
- Comments and ratings on quizzes
- Your followers and following lists (unless set to private)
- Community memberships (if applicable)
4.2 With Your Consent
- Social Media: When you authorize publishing to Facebook or Tumblr, we share quiz content with those platforms
- Third-Party Services: When you explicitly connect or authorize third-party services
4.3 Service Providers
We share information with trusted third-party service providers who assist us in:
We use the following categories of sub-processors:
- Hosting and infrastructure — Vercel; Neon (managed PostgreSQL database)
- Payment processing — Stripe
- Transactional email — Resend
- Media storage/CDN — Cloudinary
- Rate limiting / caching — Upstash
- Product analytics — PostHog; Vercel Analytics (consent-gated)
- Advertising — Google AdSense (consent-gated, free tier)
- Security logging / error monitoring — Axiom; Sentry
- Social publishing you explicitly connect — Facebook, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Discord
4.4 Legal Requirements
We may disclose your information if required by law, legal process, or to:
- Comply with legal obligations or government requests
- Protect our rights, property, or safety
- Prevent fraud or security threats
- Enforce our Terms of Service
5. Data Security
We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your information:
- Encryption: Passwords hashed with bcrypt, OAuth tokens encrypted with AES-256-GCM
- Secure Transmission: HTTPS/TLS for all data in transit
- Authentication: JWT tokens with session fingerprinting
- Access Controls: Role-based permissions and principle of least privilege
- Rate Limiting: Protection against brute force and DDoS attacks
- Regular Security Audits: Ongoing monitoring and vulnerability assessments
However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.
6. Your Privacy Rights
You have the following rights regarding your personal information:
- Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
- Correction: Update or correct inaccurate information through your account settings
- Deletion: Request deletion of your account and associated data
- Data Portability: Request your data in a machine-readable format
- Opt-Out: Unsubscribe from marketing emails or disable notifications
- Withdraw Consent: Revoke permissions for social media connections
- Object to Processing: Object to certain uses of your data
- Withdraw Cookie Consent: Change or withdraw your cookie choices at any time via "Cookie Settings" in the footer
- Lodge a Complaint: If you are in the EU/UK, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection supervisory authority
To exercise these rights, please contact us or use your account settings. We will respond to your request within 30 days.
7. Data Retention
We retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide services. Specific retention periods:
- Active Accounts: Retained until you delete your account
- Deleted Accounts: Most data deleted within 30 days; some data retained for legal/security purposes
- Public Content: Quiz data may be retained longer for platform integrity
- Backups: Backup data deleted within 90 days
- Legal Requirements: Some data retained to comply with legal obligations
8. Children's Privacy
Quiz Squirrel is not intended for children under 16 years of age, and we require all users to confirm they are at least 16 at registration. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately, and we will delete such information from our systems.
9. Advertising and Third-Party Partners
9.1 Advertising on Free Tier
Quiz Squirrel displays advertisements to users on the Free subscription tier. Paid subscribers (Pro and Premium) enjoy an ad-free experience. We work with third-party advertising partners who may collect information about you to deliver relevant ads.
9.2 Third-Party Ad Networks
We partner with third-party advertising networks including:
- Google AdSense and Google Ad Manager
- Other advertising networks and exchanges
- Analytics and measurement partners
9.3 Information Collected by Advertisers
Our advertising partners may collect:
- Device information (browser, OS, device type)
- IP address and approximate location
- Pages viewed and ads clicked
- Time spent on pages
- Referral URLs
- Cookie identifiers and advertising IDs
9.4 Interest-Based Advertising
We and our partners use cookies and similar technologies to show you personalized ads based on your interests and browsing behavior. This is called "interest-based advertising" or "behavioral advertising."
You can opt out of interest-based advertising:
9.5 Advertiser Privacy Policies
Our advertising partners have their own privacy policies. We encourage you to review them:
10. Cookies and Tracking Technologies
We and our partners use cookies and similar tracking technologies. A cookie is a small data file stored on your device. We use the following types of cookies:
- Essential Cookies: Required for authentication and core functionality. These cannot be disabled as the Service will not function without them.
- Functional Cookies: Remember your preferences and settings to enhance your experience.
- Analytics Cookies: Help us understand how you use our platform, which pages are popular, and how we can improve.
- Advertising Cookies: Used by us and third-party ad networks to show you relevant ads based on your interests. These cookies track your browsing across websites. (Free tier only)
- Social Media Cookies: Enable sharing to Facebook, Tumblr, and other social platforms.
Cookie Management
You can control cookies through:
- Browser Settings: Most browsers allow you to refuse or delete cookies. Instructions vary by browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge).
- Our Cookie Preferences: Use our cookie consent banner, or "Cookie Settings" in the footer, to grant or withdraw consent for non-essential cookies at any time. Non-essential cookies stay off until you opt in.
- Upgrade to Paid Plan: Pro and Premium subscribers do not see advertisements and advertising cookies are not set.
Important: Disabling essential cookies will prevent you from using key features like logging in. Disabling analytics cookies helps us less but you can still use the Service.
11. International Data Transfers
Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than your country of residence, including the United States. Where we transfer personal data out of the EEA or UK, we rely on appropriate safeguards under Chapter V of the GDPR — principally the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) with our processors, or transfers to countries covered by an adequacy decision. You may request details of these safeguards by contacting privacy@quizsquirrel.com.
12. Third-Party Links
Our platform may contain links to third-party websites or services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these third parties. We encourage you to read their privacy policies before providing any information.
13. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last Updated" date. Your continued use of Quiz Squirrel after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
14. Contact Us
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at:
Quiz Squirrel Privacy Team
Email: privacy@quizsquirrel.com