Siyavash

Privacy Policy – Siyavash

Last Updated: May 30, 2026

Siyavash is a platform designed to connect immigrants, businesses, translators, associations, and social organizations. We are committed to protecting the privacy and personal data of our users in accordance with applicable European data protection laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Users are not required to provide verified personal information during registration. Profile information may be edited by the user at any time.

Payment information is processed directly by PayPal. Siyavash does not store payment card details. We do not sell or share user personal information with third parties for advertising purposes.

Verification documents submitted by translators or organizations are only used for verification purposes. Marketing or informational emails are only sent when the user has provided consent.

Information We Collect

For standard users, we may collect:

  • Email address
  • Password (stored securely in encrypted form)
  • First and last name
  • Date of birth
  • State/Province of residence
  • City of residence

Business accounts, associations, translators, and organizations

We may additionally collect:

  • Verified email address
  • Organization name
  • Business logo
  • Business address
  • Website information
  • Professional verification documents where required

Purpose of Data Collection

We collect information to:

  • Create and manage user accounts
  • Verify business and translator identities
  • Prevent fraud and misuse of the platform
  • Manage event registrations
  • Facilitate translator requests
  • Improve platform functionality
  • Communicate important account-related information

Email Communications

Siyavash may send emails in the following situations:

  • Email verification for business accounts
  • Optional email verification for standard users
  • Event reservation confirmations
  • Translator request confirmations
  • Account deactivation confirmations
  • Daily email digests about new content from businesses you follow, based on per-business preferences you can review on your Following list (default on at follow; master toggle and content-type filters)
  • Push notifications via Google Firebase Cloud Messaging when you opt in on your Notifications preferences page (device tokens stored until revoked)
  • A daily email summary of message activity and followed-business updates (verified email required; no instant per-message emails)

In-app messaging

When you use Message on a verified business profile, Siyavash stores the text of your conversation in our database in Germany (Hetzner). Messages are visible to you, the business, and platform administrators for safety and support. You can hide a thread from your own inbox without deleting it for the other party. We do not sell message content to third parties.

AI message translation

When you choose to view a translation, the message you are reading and up to the last few earlier messages in that same thread (not your full inbox) may be sent to Google Gemini to generate a context-aware machine translation. If Gemini is unavailable, we may fall back to Google Cloud Translation using only the single message text. The original message remains stored on our servers; translations are cached to reduce repeat processing. Only available when the billed business in the thread is premium (monthly limit 500); migrants viewing threads hosted by non-premium businesses see a neutral notice that translation is not available for the conversation. We do not use message content for advertising.

AI authoring assistance

Verified premium business accounts may use an optional AI writing assistant to draft, improve, or translate their service, event, blog, and profile content. When you choose to use this feature, the text you have entered in the current content tab (title, description, body, and footnotes as applicable) may be sent to Google Gemini to generate suggested content. Suggestions are shown as a preview only; no content is published or saved to your profile until you explicitly accept a suggestion and save the form through the normal publish or save action. We do not use your submitted content to train AI models or for advertising. Business accounts have a separate monthly limit (100 actions) on AI authoring requests; the limit resets at the start of each UTC calendar month.

Business Verification

Businesses, organizations, and translators may be required to provide documentation to verify their legitimacy. Verification is performed to reduce fraud, increase trust, and improve user safety.

Images and Uploaded Content

Standard users cannot upload public images or files.

Business and organization accounts may upload:

  • Business logos
  • Event images
  • Service images
  • Blog article images

Location Information

  • Siyavash does not collect GPS location data from user devices.
  • Standard users may voluntarily provide their city and state/province.
  • Business accounts may provide their business address. When users select a business address, they may be redirected to external map services such as Google Maps.

Data Storage and Security

User data is stored on servers located in Germany and hosted by Hetzner. We implement reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect personal data against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, or disclosure.

Third-Party Services

Siyavash may use:

  • Google Sign-In for authentication
  • Google Gemini and Google Cloud Translation for optional in-app message translation and AI writing assistance for business content drafting and translation
  • PayPal for premium business subscription payments
  • Google Maps links for external navigation

Cookies and similar technologies

We use a small number of cookies and local storage entries to operate the site and provide optional features. We classify them as follows:

  • Necessary: authentication and session security (via better-auth), locale preference (siyavash.locale), and basic site functionality. These are always active and cannot be disabled.
  • Support & Communication: when you opt in via the cookie bar, we load the Tawk.to chat widget. This sets third-party cookies by Tawk.to and may transmit visitor attributes (name, email, role) for logged-in users to enable support chat and admin replies via Telegram. See also Third-Party Services.

Your choices

  • A cookie consent bar appears on first visit (or after policy update). You may choose 'Accept all', 'Necessary only', or open Customize to toggle categories.
  • You can reopen Cookie preferences from the site footer (Legal) and from your account Settings or business Profile edit under Privacy & data.
  • Withdrawing consent for Support hides the chat widget and prevents future loading until you opt in again.

Duration and management

  • Consent record: stored for up to 1 year (or until you change it).
  • Locale preference: up to 1 year.
  • Tawk.to cookies: governed by Tawk.to; we only load the script when you have granted Support consent.
  • Full details and how to exercise rights are in the Privacy Policy and via the in-app manager.

Account Deactivation and Deletion

Users may request account deactivation directly or through the Siyavash support team.

After deactivation:

  • The account remains inactive for 91 days.
  • During this period, the user may request reactivation.
  • After 91 days, personal data and account information are permanently deleted from our systems unless retention is required by law.

User Rights

Users may:

  • Access their information
  • Correct inaccurate information
  • Request account deletion
  • Withdraw consent for optional communications
  • Contact Siyavash regarding privacy concerns

Children's Privacy

Siyavash is intended for individuals aged 16 years or older.

Contact Information

For privacy-related requests or questions, please contact:

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Significant changes will be communicated through the platform or by email when required.