1. About this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Arbitrater collects, uses, stores and protects personal information when you access or use the platform.

Arbitrater is operated from the United Arab Emirates. User data is stored with cloud infrastructure providers in the United Kingdom. By using the platform, you acknowledge that your information may be processed in jurisdictions outside your country of residence, though we take reasonable steps to ensure it is handled responsibly wherever it is processed.

2. Information we collect

We may collect information including:

• Email address and account credentials
• Username, profile information and selected teams or preferences
• Country or region information
• Date of birth, where voluntarily provided, used to personalise your experience and enable birthday features
• Content you submit, including comments, votes, forum posts and reports
• Technical and device information such as browser type, IP address and device identifiers
• Usage and interaction data relating to platform activity
• Cookie and analytics information where consent is provided

3. How we use information

We may use personal information to:

• Provide and operate Arbitrater
• Maintain account security and authentication
• Personalise platform features and content
• Moderate content and enforce our Terms and Community Guidelines
• Detect abuse, manipulation, fraud or security threats
• Improve platform functionality, stability and user experience
• Analyse platform usage and community engagement trends
• Provide support and respond to enquiries
• Send service-related communications
• Send marketing or promotional communications where consent has been provided
• Generate and share anonymised, aggregated insights derived from community activity — such as fan sentiment trends, decision ratings and engagement patterns — with commercial partners, researchers or other third parties. These insights do not identify individual users

4. Community content and public activity

Certain activity on Arbitrater may be visible to other users, including usernames, votes, comments, forum posts, profile information and community participation.

You should avoid sharing sensitive personal information publicly on the platform.

5. Moderation, safety and platform integrity

Arbitrater may review, moderate or investigate platform activity where reasonably necessary to enforce our Terms of Service or Community Guidelines, protect users, maintain platform integrity or comply with legal obligations.

We may preserve records of moderation actions, reports or suspected violations where reasonably necessary for safety, security, legal or platform integrity purposes.

6. Cookies and analytics

Arbitrater uses cookies and similar technologies to operate the platform, maintain login sessions, analyse usage and support future advertising or promotional features.

Non-essential cookies, including analytics and advertising cookies, are used only where consent has been provided through our cookie management tools.

For more information, please see our Cookie Policy.

7. Sharing information

Arbitrater does not sell personal information.

We may however license or share anonymised, aggregated data and insights derived from platform activity — such as fan sentiment trends, decision ratings, referee approval metrics and engagement patterns — with commercial partners, researchers or other third parties for commercial, research or analytical purposes. Such data is processed in a form that does not identify individual users, and no personal information is disclosed in this context.

We may share information with trusted service providers or infrastructure partners that help us operate the platform, including hosting, authentication, analytics, moderation, communications or security providers. Some of these providers may process or store data in the United Kingdom, European Economic Area, United States, United Arab Emirates or other jurisdictions, depending on their infrastructure and service configuration. Where appropriate, we take reasonable steps to ensure that personal information is handled in accordance with applicable data protection requirements.

We may also disclose information where reasonably necessary to:

• Comply with applicable laws or legal processes
• Protect users, referees, officials or the public
• Investigate fraud, abuse or security issues
• Protect Arbitrater's rights, property or safety

8. Data retention

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for legitimate business, operational, security or legal purposes.

Retention periods may vary depending on the nature of the data, legal obligations, moderation requirements or platform integrity needs.

9. Security

Arbitrater uses reasonable technical and organisational measures designed to help protect personal information from unauthorised access, disclosure, misuse or destruction.

However, no internet-based service can guarantee absolute security.

10. Your choices and rights

Depending on your location and applicable laws, you may have rights relating to your personal information, including rights to access, correct, delete or restrict certain processing of your data.

You may also opt out of marketing communications at any time.

Requests relating to personal data may be submitted through our contact page.

11. International users

Arbitrater is intended for an international audience. Users in jurisdictions with specific data protection rights — including the UK and European Economic Area — may have additional rights beyond those described in this policy, which we will seek to honour upon request.

12. Children's privacy

Arbitrater is intended for users aged 18 and above. We do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under 18.

If we become aware that personal information has been collected from a user under 18, we may take steps to remove that information and suspend the associated account.

13. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect platform changes, legal requirements or operational developments.

Continued use of Arbitrater after updated policies are published constitutes acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy.

14. Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our handling of personal information, please contact us.