Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

This Privacy Policy is issued by ABODIGITAL (Pty) Ltd, which owns Earnify ("Earnify," "we," "us," or "our"), a company registered in the Republic of South Africa. We operate the Earnify platform (accessible via web and mobile), which allows users to earn rewards by completing tasks such as watching advertisements, answering surveys, and participating in quizzes.

We are committed to protecting your personal information and your right to privacy in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA) and other applicable South African legislation.

2. What Personal Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of personal information when you register for and use our platform:

2.1 Information You Provide Directly

• Identity Information: First name, last name, and username.
• Contact Information: South African mobile phone number (required) and email address (optional).
• Account Credentials: Password (stored in hashed form; we never store plaintext passwords).
• Financial Information: Bank account details or voucher delivery email provided when requesting withdrawals.
• KYC Documentation: Identity document (SA ID or passport) and proof of address when required for verification.
• Referral Information: Referral codes used during registration.

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

• Device Information: Device type, operating system, browser type and version, screen resolution.
• Network Information: IP address, mobile carrier/network provider.
• Location Data: Approximate geographic location derived from your IP address (we do not use GPS tracking).
• Usage Data: Pages visited, tasks completed, time spent on tasks, click patterns, and session duration.
• Task Interaction Data: Survey responses, quiz answers, ad view completion status, and app install verification data.

2.3 Information from Third Parties

• Fraud Detection Services: Risk scores and VPN/proxy detection data from IPHub and similar services.
• Payment Providers: Transaction confirmation data from Ozow, Capitec Pay, PayFast, and Rewardsco.

3. Why We Collect Your Information

We collect personal information for the following specific, explicitly defined, and legitimate purposes:

• Account Creation & Management: To create your account, verify your identity, and manage your profile and preferences.
• Task Verification: To confirm that tasks (ads watched, surveys completed, quizzes answered) were genuinely completed by a real person and not automated.
• Fraud Prevention: To detect and prevent fraudulent activity including multiple accounts, bot usage, VPN abuse, and answer sharing.
• Withdrawal Processing: To process your reward withdrawals via bank transfer or retail voucher.
• KYC Compliance: To verify your identity as required by South African financial regulations (FICA) for monetary payouts.
• Platform Improvement: To analyse usage patterns and improve our services, user interface, and task offerings.
• Communication: To send you important account notifications, withdrawal confirmations, and (with your consent) promotional offers.
• Legal Compliance: To comply with applicable South African laws, regulations, and lawful requests from authorities.

4. How We Use Your Information

Your personal information is processed in the following ways:

5. Legal Basis Under POPIA

We process your personal information under the following lawful grounds as defined in POPIA:

• Consent (Section 11(1)(a)): You provide explicit consent when you register for an account and agree to this Privacy Policy. You may withdraw consent at any time, though this may affect your ability to use the platform.
• Contractual Necessity (Section 11(1)(b)): Processing is necessary to perform our contract with you — specifically, to provide the Earnify platform services, track your task completions, calculate your points, and process your withdrawals.
• Legal Obligation (Section 11(1)(c)): We are required to retain certain financial records under the Tax Administration Act, the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA), and the Companies Act. We must also comply with lawful requests from the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and other regulatory bodies.
• Legitimate Interest (Section 11(1)(f)): We have a legitimate interest in preventing fraud, maintaining platform security, and improving our services. We conduct balancing tests to ensure our interests do not override your fundamental rights and freedoms.

6. Who We Share Your Data With

We do not sell your personal information. We share data only with the following categories of recipients, and only to the extent necessary:

6.1 Payment Providers

• Rewardsco: For processing retail voucher delivery (Takealot, Checkers, Woolworths, Shoprite, Pick n Pay, Game).
• Ozow: For processing EFT bank transfers.
• Capitec Pay: For direct payments to Capitec bank accounts.
• PayFast: For alternative payment processing.

These providers receive only the minimum information required to process your withdrawal (e.g., email for voucher delivery, bank account details for EFT).

6.2 Fraud Detection Services

• IPHub: We share IP addresses to detect VPN/proxy usage and assess fraud risk. No personally identifiable information beyond IP addresses is shared.

6.3 Analytics Providers

We may use analytics services to understand platform usage. Data shared with analytics providers is anonymised or pseudonymised wherever possible.

6.4 Advertising Partners

Our advertising partners (such as Adcash) may receive anonymised interaction data (e.g., "a user viewed this ad") to verify ad delivery. They do not receive your name, phone number, or email address.

6.5 Legal & Regulatory Bodies

We may disclose your information to law enforcement, regulatory authorities, or courts when required by law or to protect our legal rights.

7. Data Retention

We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law:

After the retention period expires, your data is securely deleted or anonymised so that it can no longer be associated with you.

8. Your Rights Under POPIA

As a data subject under POPIA, you have the following rights:

9. How to Exercise Your Rights

You may exercise any of your POPIA rights by:

• Email: Send a request to our Information Officer at privacy@earnify.co.za
• In-App Request: Submit a POPIA data request through our POPIA Request Form
• Post: Write to our Information Officer at our registered address in Sandton, Johannesburg

We will verify your identity before processing any request. We aim to respond to all valid requests within 30 days as required by POPIA. If we need additional time, we will notify you of the reason and expected timeframe.

There is no fee for exercising your rights, unless a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, in which case we may charge a reasonable fee or refuse the request.

10. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies to operate our platform, maintain your session, prevent fraud, and analyse usage. For detailed information about the cookies we use and how to manage them, please refer to our Cookie Policy.

Key cookies include:

• Session Cookies: Essential for keeping you logged in and maintaining your session state.
• CSRF Tokens: Security cookies that protect against cross-site request forgery attacks.
• Analytics Cookies: Help us understand how users interact with our platform.
• Ad Tracking Cookies: Used by advertising partners to verify ad delivery and task completion.

11. Children's Privacy

Earnify 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 without appropriate consent, we will take immediate steps to delete that information.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact our Information Officer at privacy@earnify.co.za.

12. Data Security Measures

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

• Encryption: All data transmitted between your device and our servers is encrypted using TLS/SSL (HTTPS). Sensitive data at rest is encrypted using AES-256.
• Password Security: Passwords are hashed using industry-standard algorithms (bcrypt/PBKDF2). We never store plaintext passwords.
• Access Controls: Strict role-based access controls limit who within our organisation can access personal information.
• Infrastructure Security: Our servers are hosted in secure data centres with physical security controls, firewalls, and intrusion detection systems.
• Regular Audits: We conduct regular security assessments and vulnerability testing.
• Incident Response: We maintain an incident response plan and will notify affected users and the Information Regulator of any data breach as required by POPIA Section 22.

While we strive to protect your personal information, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.

13. Cross-Border Data Transfers

Your personal information is primarily stored and processed in South Africa. However, some of our service providers (such as cloud hosting, analytics, and fraud detection services) may process data in other jurisdictions.

Where we transfer personal information outside of South Africa, we ensure that:

• The recipient country has adequate data protection laws, or
• The recipient has entered into a binding agreement that provides adequate protection in line with POPIA Section 72, or
• You have provided explicit consent to the transfer, or
• The transfer is necessary for the performance of our contract with you.

14. 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 material changes, we will:

• Update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page.
• Notify you via email or an in-app notification if the changes are significant.
• Where required by law, obtain your renewed consent before applying changes that affect how we process your data.

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.

15. Contact Information

16. Information Regulator (South Africa)

If you are not satisfied with how we handle your personal information or your data request, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator: