Privacy Policy

1. Responsible Party & Information Officer

For the purposes of POPIA, the responsible party for the processing of your personal information is:

• Responsible Party: AuPairNow
• Website:aupairnow.co.za
• Information Officer Email:privacy@aupairnow.co.za

Our Information Officer is responsible for ensuring compliance with POPIA and addressing any queries or complaints regarding the processing of your personal information. You may also lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator:

• Information Regulator (South Africa):inforegulator.org.za
• Email: complaints.IR@justice.gov.za

2. Information We Collect

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide when registering for and using our platform. This includes:

2.1 Account Information

• Full name, email address, and password
• Phone number and date of birth
• User role (family or au pair)

2.2 Profile Information

• Photographs and biographical details
• Location (city and area)
• For au pairs: qualifications, childcare experience, education, language skills, certifications, and references
• For families: number and ages of children, childcare requirements, household details, and scheduling preferences

2.3 Communications

• Messages exchanged between users through our platform
• Support requests and correspondence with AuPairNow

2.4 Payment Information

• Billing details for premium membership subscriptions
• Payment information is processed securely by our payment provider (Paystack) and is not stored on our servers

2.5 Technical Information

• IP address, browser type, device information, and operating system
• Pages visited, time spent on pages, and navigation paths
• Push notification tokens (for mobile app users)

3. Legal Basis for Processing (POPIA Conditions)

We process your personal information in accordance with the conditions for lawful processing set out in POPIA, specifically:

• Consent (Section 11(1)(a)): You provide consent when you create an account, complete your profile, and agree to these terms
• Contractual necessity (Section 11(1)(b)): Processing is necessary to provide our matching services to you
• Legitimate interest (Section 11(1)(f)): We have a legitimate interest in improving our platform, preventing fraud, and ensuring safety
• Legal obligation (Section 11(1)(c)): We may process information to comply with applicable laws and regulations

4. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Provide, maintain, and improve our au pair matching services
• Create and manage your user account
• Facilitate communication between families and au pairs
• Process premium membership transactions
• Send service-related notifications (e.g. new messages, matches, account updates)
• Provide AI-powered profile matching and search functionality
• Monitor and analyse usage trends to improve the platform
• Detect, investigate, and prevent fraudulent activity and abuse
• Respond to your support requests and enquiries
• Comply with legal obligations

5. Artificial Intelligence & Automated Processing

We use third-party artificial intelligence services provided by Anthropic (Claude) to enhance the safety, quality, and functionality of our platform. The following processing activities involve AI:

5.1 Profile Photo Analysis

When you upload a profile photo, the image is sent to Anthropic's Claude API for automated analysis. This analysis assesses:

• Photo quality (lighting, framing, and clarity)
• Content appropriateness (detecting policy-violating or inappropriate content)

No facial recognition, biometric data, or facial geometry is collected or processed. The AI does not identify individuals, create face maps, or generate biometric templates. The analysis is limited to assessing photo quality and content compliance. Anthropic does not retain your photos after the analysis is complete — images are processed in real-time via API and discarded immediately after the response is returned.

5.2 Message Content Moderation

Messages sent through our platform are processed by Anthropic's Claude API to detect and remove contact information (such as email addresses and phone numbers) in accordance with our communication policy. This helps protect users from unsolicited contact outside the platform. The original message content is retained securely for administrative review if a policy violation is detected. Anthropic does not retain message content after processing.

5.3 Profile Matching & Search

Our search and matching functionality uses Anthropic's Claude API to analyse profile attributes (such as location, qualifications, availability, and preferences) to score and rank potential matches. This processing uses only the profile information you have provided — no additional data is collected or inferred. Anthropic does not retain profile data after processing.

5.4 AI Data Handling

• Third-party provider: Anthropic, Inc. (Claude API)
• Data sent: Profile photos, message text, and profile attributes as described above
• Data retention by Anthropic: None — Anthropic's API usage policy prohibits the retention of API inputs and outputs for model training or any other purpose beyond fulfilling the API request
• Storage of results: AI-generated assessments (e.g. photo quality scores, match scores) are stored on our servers as part of your profile data and are subject to the same retention and deletion policies as your other personal information
• No profiling for advertising: AI processing is used solely for platform functionality and safety — never for advertising, tracking, or profiling purposes

You may contact our Information Officer at privacy@aupairnow.co.za to request information about any automated decisions made about your account or content.

6. Information Sharing & Disclosure

We share your personal information only in the following limited circumstances:

• With Other Registered Users: Your profile information (name, photo, qualifications, location, and other details you choose to share) is visible to other registered users of the platform. You control what information appears on your profile.
• Service Providers: We work with trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating our platform, including cloud hosting (Microsoft Azure), payment processing (Paystack), email delivery, analytics (Google Analytics), push notification services (Firebase Cloud Messaging), and artificial intelligence services (Anthropic Claude — see Section 5). These providers are contractually obligated to protect your information.
• Legal Requirements: We may disclose your information when required by law, court order, or government regulation, or when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of AuPairNow, our users, or the public.
• Business Transfers: In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you of any such change.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes.

7. Cross-Border Data Transfers

Our platform is hosted on cloud infrastructure that may involve the storage or processing of data outside of South Africa. In accordance with Section 72 of POPIA, we ensure that any cross-border transfers of personal information are made only to jurisdictions that have adequate data protection laws, or where appropriate contractual safeguards are in place to protect your information.

8. Data Retention

We retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes described in this policy, or as required by law:

• Active accounts: Your profile and account information is retained for the duration of your account
• Deleted accounts: Upon account deletion, your personal information is removed within 30 days, except where retention is required by law or for legitimate business purposes (e.g. resolving disputes)
• Messages: Message history is retained for 12 months after the last activity in a conversation thread
• Payment records: Transaction records are retained for 5 years in accordance with South African tax and financial regulations
• Analytics data: Aggregated, anonymised analytics data may be retained indefinitely

9. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction, including:

• Encryption of data in transit (TLS/SSL) and at rest
• Secure authentication with hashed passwords
• Role-based access controls for internal systems
• Regular security assessments and monitoring
• Secure payment processing through PCI-DSS compliant providers
• Rate limiting and abuse prevention measures

While we take reasonable steps to protect your information, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.

10. Your Rights Under POPIA

Under the Protection of Personal Information Act, you have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Right of access (Section 23): You may request confirmation of whether we hold personal information about you and request access to that information
• Right to correction (Section 24): You may request that we correct or delete personal information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date, incomplete, or misleading
• Right to deletion (Section 24): You may request the destruction or deletion of your personal information
• Right to object (Section 11(3)): You may object to the processing of your personal information on reasonable grounds
• Right to withdraw consent: Where processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
• Right to complain: You may lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator if you believe your rights have been infringed

To exercise any of these rights, please contact our Information Officer at privacy@aupairnow.co.za. We will respond to your request within 30 days, as required by POPIA. We may need to verify your identity before processing your request.

11. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience on our platform. These include:

• Essential cookies for authentication and security
• Analytics cookies to understand how our platform is used
• Functional cookies to remember your preferences

For detailed information about the cookies we use and how to manage them, please see our Cookie Policy.

12. Children's Privacy

Our platform is intended for users who are 18 years of age or older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 18, we will take steps to delete that information promptly.

While au pair profiles may reference the ages of children in a host family's care, we do not collect or process personal information of those children directly.

13. Direct Marketing

In accordance with Section 69 of POPIA, we will only send you direct marketing communications with your prior consent. You may opt out of marketing communications at any time by:

• Using the unsubscribe link in any marketing email
• Adjusting your notification preferences in your account settings
• Contacting us at privacy@aupairnow.co.za

Please note that opting out of marketing communications does not affect service-related messages (e.g. account notifications, security alerts).

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, or legal requirements. When we make material changes, we will:

• Update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page
• Notify registered users by email or in-app notification for significant changes
• Where required by POPIA, obtain fresh consent for any new processing activities

We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

15. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise your rights, or have a complaint about how we handle your personal information, please contact us:

• Information Officer:privacy@aupairnow.co.za
• General enquiries: Through our Contact Page

If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator:

• Website:inforegulator.org.za
• Email:complaints.IR@justice.gov.za