Privacy Policy for HootGPT

1. Information We Collect

We may collect information about you in a variety of ways when you interact with our platform.

Personal Data

When you register for an account, subscribe to a plan, or purchase credit top-ups, we may collect:

• Identity Data: Name, username, and email address.
• Financial Data: Payment card details and billing address (processed securely via our third-party payment processors like Stripe/PayPal; we do not store your full credit card numbers).
• Profile Data: Your username, password, purchases, and preferences.

Uploaded Content & AI Generation Data

To provide our core AI features, we temporarily or permanently store the data you provide to generate outputs:

• Media Files: Audio files (for voice cloning/isolation), images (for faceswap/editing), and documents (for rewriting/chat).
• Text Inputs: Prompts, scripts, and text entered into our AI Writer, Chat, or Speech-to-Text tools.
• Generated Assets: The final text, audio, images, or videos generated by the AI, which are saved in your personal dashboard library.

Automatically Collected Data

When you access the Service, our servers automatically record information, including:

• Usage Data: How you use our website, feature interactions, and credit consumption.
• Technical Data: IP address, browser type, operating system, and device information.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to operate, maintain, and improve HootGPT. Specific uses include:

• Creating and managing your user account.
• Processing your transactions, subscriptions, and media credit usage.
• Generating the AI text, audio, images, and videos you request.
• Improving our website UX, customer service, and platform functionality.
• Sending administrative emails, such as billing receipts and security alerts.

GDPR Lawful Basis: Under the General Data Protection Regulation, we process your personal data based on contractual necessity (Art. 6(1)(b)), legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)), consent (Art. 6(1)(a)), and legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)). For full details, see our GDPR Compliance page.

3. Third-Party AI Providers & Your Data

HootGPT utilizes enterprise-level APIs from third-party artificial intelligence vendors (including but not limited to OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, DeepSeek, and specialized audio/video models).

How your data interacts with these vendors:

• Data Processing: Your prompts, uploaded text, images, and audio are transmitted securely to these third-party APIs solely for the purpose of generating your requested output.
• No Model Training: We strictly utilize enterprise API endpoints. As per the standard terms of these enterprise API providers, your personal data and uploaded content are not used by these third parties to train their foundational AI models.

4. Data Security and Retention

We use administrative, technical, and physical security measures to help protect your personal information and uploaded media.

• Your Workspace: Generated assets (images, voice clones, documents) are stored securely in your personal library and can only be accessed by you.
• Retention: We retain your account data and generated assets for as long as your account is active. You may delete your assets or your entire account at any time, which will permanently remove this data from our active servers.

5. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We may use cookies, web beacons, tracking pixels, and other tracking technologies to help customize the Service and improve your experience. You can remove or reject cookies in your browser settings, though doing so could affect the availability and functionality of the Service.

6. Your Data Rights (Including GDPR)

Depending on your location (such as the GDPR in Europe, CCPA in California, or local data protection laws), you may have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Right of Access (GDPR Art. 15): Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to Rectification (GDPR Art. 16): Request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Right to Erasure (GDPR Art. 17): Request that we erase your personal data and uploaded files (“Right to be Forgotten”).
• Right to Restrict Processing (GDPR Art. 18): Request that we limit the way we use your data.
• Right to Data Portability (GDPR Art. 20): Request your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.
• Right to Object (GDPR Art. 21): Object to our processing of your personal data for direct marketing or profiling purposes.
• Right to Withdraw Consent: Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.
• Opt-Out: Opt-out of marketing communications at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at [email protected] with the subject line “GDPR Data Request.” We will respond within 30 days as required by the GDPR.

For full details on your GDPR rights, lawful basis, international data transfers, and data breach notification procedures, see our dedicated GDPR Compliance page.

7. International Data Transfers

HootGPT is based in the UAE. If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA) or the UK, your personal data may be transferred to and processed in countries outside the EEA/UK. When this occurs, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, including Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the European Commission.

For more details on how we safeguard international transfers under the GDPR, see our GDPR Compliance page.

8. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to make changes to this Privacy Policy at any time and for any reason. We will alert you about any changes by updating the “Effective Date” at the top of this policy. You are encouraged to periodically review this Privacy Policy to stay informed of updates.

9. Contact Us

If you have questions or comments about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, please contact us at: