Privacy Policy

Effective date: 2026-05-18
1. Who we are

The data controller for personal data processed by ComicEngine ("the Service") is XSoft Damian Kołodziej, registered at Nienadówka 373, 36-052, Poland (NIP 8133862070, REGON 389170574). For privacy-related requests please contact us at thestoryforks@gmail.com.

2. What data we process

From public social platforms (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok):

  • The text of public comments posted under episodes that the Service has published
  • The commenter's public username/handle on that platform
  • The comment timestamp and platform-internal comment identifier

What we do NOT collect:

  • Email addresses, phone numbers or other contact details of commenters
  • Private messages, DMs or any non-public content
  • Friends/followers lists, profile photos, demographic data
  • Behavioural tracking on this website (no analytics, no third-party cookies)

From the admin panel. The Service maintains a single authentication cookie for the operator's session. No public visitor accounts exist; this site does not place tracking cookies on visitors browsing public pages such as this one.

3. Why we process it

Public comment data is processed for the sole purpose of counting and aggregating votes (matching emoji or text patterns to voting options) so that the outcome can influence the next episode of the narrative. The legal basis is the Operator's legitimate interest in running an interactive serialised storytelling service (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR), balanced against the limited and inherently public nature of the data.

4. How data flows through our integrations

Outbound (we publish to):

  • Meta Platforms, Inc. — Instagram Graph API v21.0 and Facebook Graph API v21.0 (publishing carousels and Page albums; receiving comment webhooks)
  • TikTok Pte. Ltd. — Content Posting API v2 (publishing Photo Mode slideshows) and Research API (retrieving public comments for voting)

Outbound (we generate content with):

  • OpenAI, L.L.C. — text generation (gpt-5), vision QA (gpt-4o), image generation (gpt-image-2). Only narrative prompts written by the Operator are sent to OpenAI; no commenter data, no usernames and no comment content are transmitted to OpenAI.

All third-party processors listed above are independent data controllers/processors with their own privacy policies. Their handling of your data when you interact with them directly (e.g., commenting on a TikTok video) is governed by their respective terms.

5. Where data is stored

Collected comment data is stored on a dedicated server located in the European Union, in a SQL Server database accessible only to the Operator. Backups are taken via VPS-level snapshots and retained by the hosting provider per its policy.

6. How long we retain data

Vote records and the associated public comment identifier are retained for as long as the corresponding episode exists in our database. Aggregated vote counts (numeric totals per option) are retained indefinitely as part of the narrative history. You may request deletion of your specific vote record at any time using the contact details in Section 1.

7. Your rights (GDPR)

If you are located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, you have the right to: access your personal data, request rectification, request erasure, restrict or object to processing, and data portability. You may exercise these rights by emailing thestoryforks@gmail.com. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Polish Data Protection Authority (Urząd Ochrony Danych Osobowych, www.uodo.gov.pl).

8. Children

The Service publishes through third-party platforms whose minimum age requirements apply (typically 13+). The Service itself does not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has interacted with our published content in a way that resulted in our collecting their data, please contact us and we will delete the associated records.

9. Security

We use TLS (HTTPS via Let's Encrypt) for all traffic to and from this site and the admin panel. The admin panel is protected by password-based authentication. API tokens for Instagram, Facebook and TikTok are stored as environment variables on the server and never exposed to public visitors.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The effective date above will be revised when changes are made. Material changes will be reflected in a higher-visibility notice on the published episodes' captions or here on this page.

11. Contact

For any privacy-related inquiry, data subject request or complaint, email thestoryforks@gmail.com or write to:
XSoft Damian Kołodziej, Nienadówka 373, 36-052, Poland.

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