How information is handled
Privacy Policy
Effective 2026-09-20. Boubacar Dembele is the controller responsible for the personal information described here.
The short version
Tell Someone uses information to run a private social game, secure accounts, keep the service safe and meet legal duties. It does not use private game content, the social graph, reports, safety outcomes or email addresses as advertising intelligence.
Tell Someone does not upload your device contacts. Your operating system and the external app you choose own recipient selection. Tell Someone receives no address-book record from that choice.
Controller contact: privacy@playtellsomeone.com. Postal/service address: Boubacar Dembele, 17 Stanshawe Road, Ground Floor, Reading, RG1 1PB, UK.
Information we use
Account and session data: an opaque account identifier, provider credential reference, session and policy revisions, account status and security records.
Profile and eligibility data: display name, controlled avatar choices, declared age band and region eligibility.
Game data: authored statements, questions, answers, guesses, retellings, causal graph events, timers, delivery and settlement state.
Safety and support data: the exact item you report, structured reason, minimum case evidence, decisions, appeals, complaint submissions and audit records.
Technical data: installation and push destinations, request security data and bounded operational records. The public website has no analytics or advertising; the hero stores only its light/dark appearance preference in this browser.
Why we use it
Processing is limited to performing the game you request, securing and operating the service, protecting participants, handling complaints and rights, and meeting legal obligations. Where UK data-protection law requires a lawful basis or a special condition, Boubacar Dembele records and applies the appropriate one; accepting the Terms is not blanket privacy consent.
Who can receive it
Authorised game participants receive only the actor-relative material the game entitles them to see. Specifically authorised reviewers can receive minimum report-scoped evidence. Hosting, authentication, email, app-store, push and device-platform providers process only the data needed for their roles under their own applicable terms and safeguards. Private game content is not disclosed for unrelated advertising or model training.
Optional limited advertising — later versions only
Existing ad-free versions do not show ads. In versions offering the direct Google banner option, eligible adults on Android and eligible 16–17-year-olds on Android or iOS can choose whether to allow it in Settings. You can decline or withdraw there and keep playing.
If you allow this option, Google and eligible advertising parties, including Authorized Buyers and SDK Bidding partners where enabled, may use your IP address, limited device, app and ad-request data, and privacy and derived age-treatment signals for ad delivery, security, fraud prevention and limited measurement. Programmatic limited ads may use local storage only to detect invalid traffic. This option does not authorise personalised advertising or remarketing. Tell Someone does not provide private game content, account identity, email or purchase details for advertising.
Google’s explanation below describes its data use. Its ad-partner directory provides eligible partners’ data-use information, not a list of the parties that received a particular ad request. Regional partner settings do not establish Google-only recipients everywhere.
Retention and deletion
Active game and account data follows the game lifecycle and deletion rules. Ordinary operational and security records are bounded; backups expire under the governed schedule. Report, legal or child-safety evidence is retained only where a documented purpose or legal duty requires it. The Account deletion page explains what the deletion command can and cannot undo.
Your choices and rights
Depending on the circumstances, UK rights can include access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection and portability. Use privacy@playtellsomeone.com or the Complaints route. Identity checks are proportionate and do not ask for an identity-document copy by default.
You may complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office. Using Tell Someone’s route first is welcome but not required.
Young people
V1 is 16+ in Great Britain. Age-band and eligibility controls are used to exclude under-16s and apply age-appropriate safeguards. Tell Someone does not use a young person’s private game content for profiling or personalised advertising.
Security and changes
Tell Someone separates provider credentials from first-party sessions, authorises each view and action, encrypts sensitive stored values and keeps private content out of ordinary URLs, notifications and diagnostics. No online service can promise perfect security.
Material changes to this notice will be explained clearly. A privacy notice is information, not a request for blanket consent.