Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

Bad Business Reviews is a business discovery, directory, and review platform that allows people to research businesses, read and submit reviews, access business information, and interact with businesses.

Businesses may also use BBR to claim eligible profiles, manage business information, provide information about their services, upload media, and respond to reviews.

For purposes of applicable privacy laws, the organization responsible for the processing described in this Privacy Policy is:

2. Information We Collect

The information we collect depends on how you interact with BBR.

We may collect information that you provide directly, information generated automatically when you use the Platform, information associated with public business listings, and information received from lawful third-party or public sources.

3. Information You Provide to Us

You may provide personal information when you:

• Create an account.
• Submit a review.
• Edit your profile.
• Claim a business.
• Manage a business profile.
• Respond to a review.
• Upload images or other media.
• Submit a business or service.
• Report content.
• Contact BBR.
• Submit an appeal.
• Participate in surveys or feedback.
• Subscribe to communications.
• Purchase a paid service, if available.
• Otherwise interact with the Platform.

Depending on the feature you use, this information may include:

• Name.
• Username or display name.
• Email address.
• Phone number.
• Password or authentication information.
• Profile image.
• Business affiliation.
• Business role or job title.
• Business information.
• Review content.
• Ratings.
• Business responses.
• Photos and uploaded media.
• Reports and complaints.
• Communications with BBR.
• Verification information.
• Billing and transaction information.
• Other information you choose to provide.

4. Account Information

If you create a BBR account, we may collect information such as:

• Your name.
• Email address.
• Username or display name.
• Account identifier.
• Authentication credentials.
• Email-verification status.
• Account role.
• Account status.
• Profile information.
• Account creation date.
• Login and security information.

Passwords should be stored using appropriate security protections rather than as readable plain-text passwords.

We may use account information to authenticate you, provide account features, protect account security, communicate with you, and administer the Platform.

5. Review Information

When you submit a review, we may collect:

• The business being reviewed.
• Your rating.
• Review title.
• Review text.
• Date of your experience.
• Photos or other supporting media.
• Review submission date.
• Review status.
• Editing history.
• Reports relating to the review.
• Moderation information.
• Information used to evaluate review authenticity or abuse.
• Your account identifier.
• Technical information associated with the submission.

Reviews are intended for public display.

Information you include within a published review may therefore become publicly accessible.

Do not include sensitive personal information in a review unless it is necessary and appropriate to describe your experience.

6. Public Review Information

When a review is published, information displayed publicly may include:

• Your display name or username.
• Your profile image, if applicable.
• Rating.
• Review text.
• Review date.
• Date or approximate date of experience.
• Uploaded review photos.
• Public responses to the review.
• Other information designed to form part of your public BBR profile.

BBR may display additional non-sensitive information about reviewer activity, such as the number of reviews submitted.

You should assume that anything you intentionally publish through a public review or public profile may be viewed, copied, indexed, or shared by others.

7. Business Information

BBR operates a business directory.

Business information may be obtained from:

• Business owners.
• Authorized business representatives.
• Users.
• BBR administrators or researchers.
• Public records.
• Public websites.
• Business websites.
• Public social-media pages.
• Licensed data providers.
• Other lawful sources.

Business information may include:

• Business name.
• Business address.
• Phone number.
• Email address.
• Website.
• Business description.
• Opening hours.
• Categories.
• Services.
• Social-media accounts.
• Business images.
• Geographic location.
• Service areas.
• Other publicly available business information.

Some business information may relate to an identifiable individual, particularly where an individual operates a sole proprietorship or uses personal contact information for business purposes.

8. Business Claim Information

If you claim or attempt to claim a business profile, we may collect information necessary to verify your authority to represent the business.

This may include:

• Name.
• Email address.
• Phone number.
• Position or relationship to the business.
• Business email address.
• Business documentation.
• Verification codes.
• Ownership or authorization evidence.
• Communications concerning the claim.
• Claim history.
• Claim approval or rejection information.

In certain circumstances, we may request additional evidence to protect businesses against unauthorized claims.

Verification information will be used primarily for verification, fraud prevention, security, dispute handling, and related legal or administrative purposes.

9. Business Responses

When an authorized business representative responds to a review, we may collect and publicly display:

• The response.
• Business identity.
• Representative role or status, where appropriate.
• Date of response.
• Editing history.
• Moderation status.

Business representatives should avoid including unnecessary personal or sensitive information in public responses.

10. Uploaded Photos and Media

When you upload photos, images, documents, or other media, we may collect:

• The uploaded file.
• File type.
• File size.
• Upload time.
• Associated account.
• Associated business or review.
• Moderation status.
• Technical file information.

We may process uploaded media to resize, compress, optimize, convert, scan, moderate, or otherwise prepare it for use on the Platform.

Where appropriate, certain metadata associated with uploaded files may be removed or modified.

11. Communications With BBR

When you contact us, we may collect:

• Your name.
• Email address.
• Phone number, if provided.
• Account information.
• Message contents.
• Attachments.
• Support history.
• Complaint information.
• Moderation-related communications.
• Appeal information.
• Other information you provide.

We may retain communications where reasonably necessary to provide support, resolve disputes, prevent abuse, maintain records, or comply with legal obligations.

12. Information Collected Automatically

When you access or use BBR, certain technical information may be collected automatically.

This may include:

• IP address.
• Browser type.
• Browser version.
• Device type.
• Operating system.
• Device identifiers.
• Language.
• Referring page.
• Pages viewed.
• Search activity.
• Links clicked.
• Date and time of access.
• Session information.
• Approximate geographic location derived from an IP address.
• Error logs.
• Performance information.
• Security events.
• Cookie or similar technology identifiers.

We may use this information to operate, secure, understand, troubleshoot, and improve the Platform.

13. Location Information

BBR may process location-related information to provide location-based business discovery.

Location information may include:

• City.
• State or region.
• Country.
• ZIP or postal code.
• Approximate location derived from an IP address.
• A location entered manually by you.

If BBR later offers features that require precise device location, we will request any permissions required by applicable law or your device platform.

You may be able to control device-location permissions through your browser or device settings.

14. Search and Browsing Activity

We may collect information about how users interact with BBR, including:

• Business searches.
• Search terms.
• Categories viewed.
• Services viewed.
• Businesses viewed.
• Review pages viewed.
• Search filters.
• General navigation activity.

We may use this information to improve search results, recommendations, usability, platform performance, and business discovery.

15. Cookies and Similar Technologies

BBR may use cookies and similar technologies to operate and improve the Platform.

These technologies may be used for purposes such as:

• Keeping users signed in.
• Maintaining sessions.
• Remembering preferences.
• Preventing fraud.
• Providing security.
• Measuring Platform performance.
• Understanding Platform usage.
• Diagnosing errors.
• Analytics.
• Advertising or marketing, where used.
• Remembering privacy preferences.

Cookies may be placed by BBR or by approved third-party providers.

16. Types of Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are required for essential Platform functions such as authentication, security, account access, and maintaining sessions.

Preference Cookies

These cookies remember user preferences and settings.

Analytics Cookies

These cookies help us understand how users interact with the Platform.

Advertising or Marketing Cookies

If BBR uses advertising technologies, these cookies may help measure advertising, limit repeated advertisements, or provide advertising based on relevant factors.

Where legally required, non-essential cookies will be subject to appropriate consent or privacy controls.

17. Cookie Controls

You may be able to control cookies through:

• BBR cookie settings.
• Your browser settings.
• Device settings.
• Applicable privacy preference mechanisms.

Disabling certain cookies may affect Platform functionality.

Where applicable law requires us to recognize qualifying browser-based privacy signals, we will process those signals as required.

18. How We Use Personal Information

We may use personal information to:

• Operate BBR.
• Create and maintain accounts.
• Authenticate users.
• Provide business listings.
• Publish reviews.
• Publish business responses.
• Process business claims.
• Verify authorized business representatives.
• Provide business-management features.
• Process user-submitted services or business information.
• Provide search functionality.
• Improve search relevance.
• Personalize Platform functionality.
• Process uploaded media.
• Moderate reviews and other content.
• Detect fraudulent reviews.
• Detect spam.
• Prevent manipulation.
• Investigate suspicious activity.
• Enforce our Terms & Conditions.
• Protect users and businesses.
• Respond to support requests.
• Resolve disputes.
• Process reports and appeals.
• Send service communications.
• Analyze Platform performance.
• Improve features.
• Maintain security.
• Maintain backups.
• Comply with legal obligations.
• Establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
• Protect BBR's rights and property.

19. Review Integrity and Fraud Prevention

Maintaining trustworthy reviews is an important part of BBR.

We may process account, review, device, network, activity, and technical information to identify:

• Fake reviews.
• Duplicate accounts.
• Coordinated review manipulation.
• Spam.
• Automated activity.
• Fraudulent business claims.
• Account abuse.
• Suspicious login activity.
• Attempts to manipulate ratings.
• Other violations of BBR policies.

We may use automated signals and manual moderation as part of these processes.

Information identified through these processes may be used to approve, restrict, investigate, reject, label, or remove content and to protect the Platform.

20. Content Moderation

Content submitted to BBR may be reviewed to determine whether it complies with our Terms, review standards, and other policies.

Moderation may involve:

• Automated technical systems.
• Spam detection.
• Fraud signals.
• Manual review.
• User reports.
• Business reports.
• Account history.
• Content history.
• Other relevant information.

Moderation records may be retained where reasonably necessary to maintain Platform integrity, investigate abuse, resolve disputes, or defend moderation decisions.

21. Legal Bases for Processing

Where applicable privacy law requires a legal basis for processing personal information, BBR may rely on one or more of the following:

Performance of a Contract

We may process information where necessary to provide services you request or administer your BBR account.

Legitimate Interests

We may process information where necessary for legitimate interests such as:

• Operating BBR.
• Improving the Platform.
• Maintaining security.
• Preventing fraud.
• Protecting review integrity.
• Providing customer support.
• Understanding Platform performance.

We consider applicable individual privacy rights when relying on legitimate interests.

Consent

We may rely on your consent where required, such as for certain cookies, marketing communications, or other activities.

You may withdraw consent where applicable.

Legal Obligations

We may process information where necessary to comply with applicable laws, regulations, court orders, or other legal obligations.

Protection of Rights

We may process information where necessary to establish, exercise, defend, or protect legal rights.

22. How We Share Information

We may disclose personal information in the circumstances described below.

We do not give another business unrestricted rights to personal information merely because it has a listing on BBR.

23. Public Information

Certain information is intentionally made public as part of the Platform.

This may include:

• Reviews.
• Ratings.
• Reviewer display names.
• Public profile information.
• Review photos.
• Business information.
• Business photos.
• Business responses.
• Categories and services.
• Other public contributions.

Once information has been publicly posted, it may be accessed or copied by third parties outside BBR's control.

24. Service Providers

We may use third-party service providers to support BBR.

They may provide services such as:

• Website and infrastructure hosting.
• Database services.
• Cloud storage.
• Content delivery.
• Email delivery.
• Security.
• Fraud detection.
• Analytics.
• Error monitoring.
• Customer support.
• Payment processing.
• Media processing.
• Backups.
• Search infrastructure.
• Other technical services.

These providers may process information on our behalf as necessary to perform their services.

Where appropriate, we use contractual or other safeguards designed to protect personal information.

25. Payment Processing

If BBR offers paid subscriptions, advertising, premium business tools, or other paid features, payments may be processed through third-party payment providers.

Depending on the payment system, BBR may receive information such as:

• Customer name.
• Billing email.
• Transaction identifier.
• Payment status.
• Amount.
• Currency.
• Subscription information.
• Limited billing information.

Payment providers may process payment-card or financial information according to their own privacy policies.

BBR should not store complete payment-card information unless its payment infrastructure is specifically designed and authorized to do so.

26. Sharing With Businesses

If you intentionally contact, request information from, or otherwise interact directly with a business through BBR, information necessary for that interaction may be shared with the business.

Submitting a public review does not automatically give the reviewed business access to private account information such as your private email address solely because the business has been reviewed.

BBR may, however, disclose information where legally required or where otherwise described in this Privacy Policy.

27. Legal and Safety Disclosures

We may disclose information when we reasonably believe disclosure is necessary to:

• Comply with applicable law.
• Respond to valid legal process.
• Respond to court orders.
• Respond to lawful government requests.
• Investigate fraud.
• Protect Platform security.
• Enforce our agreements.
• Protect BBR's rights.
• Protect users or businesses.
• Prevent harm.
• Investigate illegal activity.
• Establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

We evaluate requests for information according to applicable law and the circumstances of the request.

28. Business Transfers

If BBR or its operating organization is involved in a:

• Merger.
• Acquisition.
• Financing.
• Corporate restructuring.
• Reorganization.
• Bankruptcy.
• Sale of assets.
• Transfer of ownership.

personal information may be disclosed or transferred as part of that transaction, subject to applicable law.

29. Sale and Sharing of Personal Information

Privacy laws in some jurisdictions use specific definitions of terms such as "sell," "share," or "targeted advertising."

BBR may use analytics, advertising, or similar technologies that could be treated differently under different privacy laws.

Where applicable law provides a right to opt out of certain sales, sharing, targeted advertising, or similar processing, BBR will provide the required mechanisms for exercising that right.

Before publishing this Privacy Policy, BBR should confirm its production advertising and analytics configuration so this section accurately describes its practices.

30. Data Retention

We retain personal information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.

Retention periods may depend on factors such as:

• How long you maintain an account.
• The type of information.
• Why the information was collected.
• Whether content remains publicly available.
• Security requirements.
• Fraud-prevention requirements.
• Moderation records.
• Legal requirements.
• Contractual requirements.
• Dispute resolution.
• Enforcement of agreements.
• Applicable limitation periods.

Different categories of information may have different retention periods.

When information is no longer reasonably required, we may delete, anonymize, aggregate, or otherwise dispose of it in accordance with applicable requirements.

31. Reviews After Account Closure

Closing a BBR account does not necessarily remove reviews or other public contributions previously submitted through the account.

Where permitted by applicable law, BBR may retain published reviews to preserve the integrity and usefulness of the review platform.

We may remove or anonymize account-identifying information where appropriate.

Requests to delete personal information remain subject to applicable privacy rights, legal obligations, exceptions, and BBR policies.

32. Business Listings After Account Closure

Business listings are separate from individual user accounts.

Closing a business representative's account or relinquishing a claimed profile does not necessarily remove the underlying business listing.

BBR may continue displaying business information obtained from lawful public, third-party, administrative, or community sources.

33. Data Security

BBR takes reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures designed to protect personal information.

Security measures may include, where appropriate:

• Access controls.
• Authentication controls.
• Password protection.
• Encryption.
• Secure communications.
• Logging.
• Monitoring.
• Network security.
• Database protections.
• Backup systems.
• Account-verification measures.
• Fraud detection.
• Restricted administrative access.

However, no website, storage system, network, or method of electronic transmission can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Users should also take reasonable steps to protect their accounts, including choosing strong passwords and protecting their login credentials.

34. Security Incidents

If we identify a security incident affecting personal information, we may investigate the incident and take appropriate measures to contain and address it.

Where applicable law requires notification to affected individuals, regulators, or other parties, we will provide such notification as required.

35. International Data Processing

BBR may use infrastructure, service providers, or personnel located in countries different from the country where you live.

As a result, personal information may be processed or stored in other jurisdictions.

Where required by applicable law, we will use appropriate mechanisms or safeguards for international transfers of personal information.

36. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on your location and applicable law, you may have rights concerning your personal information.

These rights may include the ability to:

• Request access to personal information.
• Request copies of personal information.
• Request correction of inaccurate information.
• Request deletion of information.
• Object to certain processing.
• Request restriction of certain processing.
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.
• Request data portability where applicable.
• Opt out of certain advertising or profiling activities.
• Opt out of certain sales or sharing of personal information.
• Appeal certain privacy-request decisions where applicable.

Privacy rights vary by jurisdiction and are subject to legal exceptions.

37. How to Exercise Your Privacy Rights

You may submit a privacy request through:

Privacy Email:
[Privacy Email]

Privacy Request Form:
[Privacy Request URL]

When submitting a request, please provide enough information for us to understand and process the request.

We may need to verify your identity before processing certain requests.

Verification measures are intended to prevent unauthorized persons from obtaining, modifying, or deleting another person's information.

We will not request more information than reasonably necessary for verification.

38. Authorized Agents

Where applicable law permits it, you may authorize another person to submit certain privacy requests on your behalf.

We may request information necessary to verify:

• The identity of the person making the request.
• Your identity.
• The agent's authority to act on your behalf.

Requirements may differ depending on the type of request and applicable law.

39. California Privacy Rights

If California privacy law applies to BBR and to your information, California residents may have specific rights regarding personal information.

Depending on applicable circumstances, these may include rights concerning:

• Information about categories of personal information collected.
• Information about sources of personal information.
• Information about purposes for collecting or using information.
• Access to certain personal information.
• Deletion of personal information.
• Correction of inaccurate personal information.
• Opting out of the sale or sharing of personal information.
• Limiting certain uses or disclosures of sensitive personal information where applicable.
• Non-discriminatory treatment for exercising applicable privacy rights.

BBR will process applicable California privacy requests according to legal requirements.

Where required, BBR will also recognize qualifying opt-out preference signals, such as supported Global Privacy Control signals.

40. California — Categories of Information

Depending on your interaction with BBR, personal information we process may include categories such as:

Identifiers

Examples may include:

• Name.
• Email.
• IP address.
• Account ID.
• Username.
• Phone number.

Internet or Electronic Activity

Examples may include:

• Browsing activity.
• Search activity.
• Device information.
• Interaction with BBR.
• Login activity.

Commercial Information

If paid services are offered, this may include:

• Transactions.
• Subscription information.
• Purchase history.

Geolocation Information

This may include approximate location information or locations voluntarily provided to BBR.

Professional Information

For business representatives, this may include:

• Employer or business affiliation.
• Job role.
• Authority to represent a business.

User-Generated Content

This may include:

• Reviews.
• Ratings.
• Photos.
• Reports.
• Business responses.
• Other submissions.

Other Information

Other information described in this Privacy Policy may be processed depending on the services you use.

41. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

If BBR engages in processing that qualifies as the "sale" or "sharing" of personal information under applicable law, eligible users will be provided with an appropriate mechanism to opt out.

Where applicable, this may be available through:

[Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information URL]

or through supported browser-based opt-out preference signals.

This section should be finalized after confirming BBR's analytics and advertising providers.

42. European Economic Area, United Kingdom, and Similar Rights

If applicable data-protection law provides you with data-subject rights, you may be entitled to request actions such as:

• Access to your personal information.
• Correction of inaccurate information.
• Deletion of information.
• Restriction of processing.
• Objection to certain processing.
• Data portability where applicable.
• Withdrawal of consent where processing relies on consent.

You may also have the right to submit a complaint to an appropriate data-protection authority.

Rights and exceptions depend on applicable law and the circumstances of the processing.

43. Marketing Communications

Where BBR sends promotional or marketing emails, you may unsubscribe through the unsubscribe mechanism provided in those communications or through applicable account settings.

Even if you opt out of promotional messages, we may continue sending important non-promotional communications such as:

• Account verification emails.
• Password-security messages.
• Security alerts.
• Business claim notifications.
• Moderation notices.
• Privacy notices.
• Changes to important policies.
• Other service-related communications.

44. Children's Privacy

BBR is a general-audience business directory and review platform and is not intended to be a service directed to children under 13.

We do not intend to knowingly collect personal information online from children under 13 in circumstances prohibited by applicable children's privacy law.

If we learn that personal information has been collected from a child in violation of applicable requirements, we will take appropriate steps to address the information.

Parents or guardians who believe a child has provided personal information improperly may contact:

[Privacy Email]

45. Third-Party Links

BBR may contain links to:

• Business websites.
• Social-media platforms.
• Mapping services.
• Booking services.
• Payment services.
• Other third-party websites or applications.

BBR does not control the privacy practices of independent third parties.

When you leave BBR, the privacy policy of the third-party service will generally govern information collected by that service.

We encourage users to review applicable third-party privacy policies before providing personal information.

46. Social Media

Business profiles may contain links to external social-media accounts.

BBR may also maintain its own social-media accounts.

If you interact with BBR through a third-party social network, that provider may collect information according to its own privacy practices.

Information you publish publicly on a social network may also be visible to BBR or other users.

47. Analytics

BBR may use analytics tools to understand how people use the Platform.

Analytics information may help us understand:

• Page usage.
• Traffic sources.
• Device types.
• Platform performance.
• Search activity.
• Feature usage.
• Errors.
• General usage patterns.

Where applicable law requires consent or opt-out rights for specific analytics technologies, we will provide appropriate controls.

The specific analytics providers used by BBR should be identified or otherwise disclosed where required before this Privacy Policy is published.

48. Advertising

BBR may offer advertising, sponsored listings, promoted businesses, or other commercial features.

If advertising technologies are used, information may be processed for purposes such as:

• Measuring advertisements.
• Preventing advertising fraud.
• Limiting repeated advertisements.
• Understanding advertising performance.
• Providing contextual advertisements.
• Providing interest-based or targeted advertising where permitted.

Where applicable law provides consent or opt-out rights for advertising-related processing, appropriate controls will be provided.

Paid advertising does not provide advertisers with unrestricted access to private BBR account information.

49. Aggregated and De-Identified Information

We may create aggregated, statistical, or de-identified information from information collected through BBR.

For example, we may analyze:

• Number of reviews in a city.
• Popular business categories.
• Average ratings.
• General search trends.
• Platform usage trends.

Where information has been appropriately aggregated or de-identified so that it is no longer treated as personal information under applicable law, we may use it for purposes such as analytics, research, reporting, product development, and improving BBR.

50. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically.

Changes may be made to reflect:

• New BBR features.
• Changes to our data practices.
• New technologies.
• Changes to service providers.
• Legal requirements.
• Regulatory requirements.
• Security improvements.
• Business changes.

When this Privacy Policy is updated, we will revise the"Last Updated" date.

Where required by law, we may provide additional notice or request consent before material changes take effect.