Privacy Policy — POP GOLDEN

Last updated: March 17, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how POP GOLDEN ("we", "us", or "our") collects, uses, discloses, and safeguards your information when you visit our website at https://iconpolls.com and use our services, including browsing rankings, voting in polls, purchasing charity voting tickets, posting comments, and reading articles. Please read this policy carefully. By using our platform, you consent to the practices described here.

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Information You Provide Directly

When you create an account or interact with the platform, you may provide us with the following information:

Account information: When you sign in through Google or another social login provider, we receive your name and email address from that provider. We use this information to create and maintain your account.
Comments and poll submissions: When you post comments on rankings or blog articles, or suggest new polls, we store the content you submit along with your user ID and timestamp.
Payment information: When you purchase charity voting tickets, your payment is processed by Stripe. We do not receive or store your full credit card number, CVV, or other sensitive payment credentials. Stripe provides us with a transaction ID, payment status, and the email address associated with the purchase. Please refer to Stripe's Privacy Policy for details on how Stripe handles your payment information.
Contact messages: If you email us directly, we store the content of your message, your email address, and any attachments you include.

1.2 Information Collected Automatically

When you visit our website, certain information is collected automatically through cookies and similar technologies:

Usage data: Pages you visit, rankings you view, votes you cast, time spent on pages, referring URLs, and general browsing patterns.
Device information: IP address, browser type and version, operating system, screen resolution, and device type (desktop, mobile, tablet).
Location data: We may determine your approximate geographic location based on your IP address. This is used for analytics purposes and, in some cases, for content personalization. We do not collect precise GPS coordinates.

1.3 Information from Third-Party Services

If you sign in using a third-party service such as Google, we receive basic profile information from that service, including your name, email address, and profile identifier. We do not access your contacts, photos, or other data from your Google account beyond what is needed for authentication.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

Platform operation: To maintain your account, process your votes, display your comments, and manage your charity voting ticket balance.
Payment processing: To facilitate charity voting ticket purchases through Stripe, track your ticket balance, and maintain transaction records.
Vote integrity: To prevent automated voting, detect fraudulent activity, and maintain the fairness of our ranking results. This may involve analyzing IP addresses, voting frequency, and behavioral patterns.
Content moderation: To review user-generated content such as comments for compliance with our community guidelines, including automated scanning for profanity, hate speech, and spam.
Analytics and improvement: To understand how our platform is used, identify popular content, diagnose technical issues, and improve the overall user experience.
Communication: To respond to your inquiries, send payment confirmations, and notify you of important changes to the platform or these policies. We do not send unsolicited marketing emails.
Legal compliance: To comply with applicable laws, regulations, legal processes, and enforceable government requests.

3. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies to operate and improve our platform. Here is what we use and why:

3.1 Essential Cookies

These are required for the website to function. They handle user authentication, CSRF protection, session management, and basic preferences. You cannot opt out of essential cookies without losing core site functionality.

3.2 Analytics Cookies

We may use analytics services to understand how visitors use our site. These cookies collect information such as which pages are visited most often, how long users stay, and where visitors come from. Analytics data is aggregated and does not personally identify individual users.

3.3 Advertising Cookies

We display advertisements on our platform through third-party advertising partners. These partners may use cookies to serve ads based on your browsing activity across websites. Our advertising partners include:

Google AdSense / Google Ad Manager: Google uses cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits. You can opt out at Google Ads Settings. See Google's Privacy & Terms.
Fuse / Publift: Publift uses cookies to deliver and optimize advertising. See Publift's Privacy Policy.

You can manage your advertising preferences through the following opt-out tools:

4. Payment Data and Charity Voting Tickets

When you purchase charity voting tickets, the transaction is handled entirely by Stripe. Here is how payment data flows:

You are redirected to a Stripe-hosted checkout page to enter your payment details. We never see or handle your full card number.
After a successful payment, Stripe sends us a confirmation via webhook. We receive a transaction ID, payment intent ID, and the associated email address.
We store the number of tickets purchased, the amount paid, the payment status (paid, pending, failed, refunded), and the associated poll and user IDs in our database.
Ticket balances and vote records are stored in our database and visible to you through your user dashboard.

We retain payment records for accounting, dispute resolution, and legal compliance purposes. If you need a payment record deleted, contact us and we will accommodate your request to the extent permitted by law.

5. Data Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell your personal information to third parties. We may share your information in the following limited circumstances:

Service providers: We share data with companies that help us operate the platform, including hosting providers, payment processors (Stripe), and analytics services. These providers are contractually obligated to handle your data securely and only for the purposes we specify.
Advertising partners: Our ad partners may collect data through cookies as described in Section 3.3 above. We do not provide them with your name, email, or account information.
Legal requirements: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law, or if we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or comply with a court order or legal process.
Business transfers: If POP GOLDEN is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you before your information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
Public content: Comments you post on rankings and articles are visible to all visitors. Your display name (from your Google account) is shown alongside your comments. Vote counts are public, but individual vote records are not.

6. Data Retention

We retain your personal data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you with our services. Specifically:

Account data: Retained until you request deletion or your account is terminated.
Voting records: Retained indefinitely as they contribute to aggregate ranking results.
Ticket purchase records: Retained for a minimum of 7 years for accounting and legal compliance.
Comments: Retained until deleted by you, removed by moderators, or your account is deleted.
Server logs and analytics: Typically retained for 90 days, then aggregated or deleted.

7. Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

Access: You can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Correction: You can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
Deletion: You can request that we delete your personal data. Note that some data may be retained for legal or operational reasons as described in Section 6.
Portability: Where applicable, you can request your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
Objection: You can object to certain processing of your data, including processing for direct marketing purposes.

To exercise any of these rights, email us at [email protected]. We will respond within 30 days.

8. Data Security

We take reasonable measures to protect your personal data from unauthorized access, loss, alteration, and destruction. These measures include encrypted storage of sensitive credentials, secure HTTPS transmission, access controls on our database, and regular security reviews. However, no method of electronic storage or transmission over the internet is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Children's Privacy

POP GOLDEN is not directed at anyone under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal data, please contact us and we will take steps to remove that information. If we become aware that we have collected data from a child under 13 without parental consent, we will delete it promptly.

10. International Data Transfers

Your information may be processed and stored on servers located outside your country of residence. By using our platform, you consent to the transfer of your data to jurisdictions that may have different data protection laws than your own. We take steps to ensure that your data is treated securely regardless of where it is processed.

11. Third-Party Links

Our platform may contain links to third-party websites, services, or applications that are not operated by us. We have no control over and are not responsible for the privacy practices of these third parties. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party services you visit.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. When we make changes, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. For significant changes, we may also provide notice through the platform or via email. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

13. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests related to this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

Email: [email protected]