Privacy policy

What we collect

Your account. You sign in through Clerk, our account provider. We keep your email address and your display name, linked to your Clerk account. Clerk holds your sign-in details, and never shares your password with us.

Your debates. When you create or join a debate, we store:

• the motion;
• the names each side chooses;
• the invite you used, and when you accepted it;
• the format: its segments, and how long each one runs.

While a debate runs, we keep a timestamped log of every move on the clock:

• who held the floor;
• ready signals, pauses and interruptions;
• when the side holding the floor lost its connection.

Both sides can see this log. It is how a debate shows it was fair.

Your camera and microphone. They are sent live to the other participants through LiveKit, our media provider.

The recording. Every debate is recorded, video and sound from both sides, from the moment it starts until it ends. Both sides are told before they say ready. Only the two sides and the person who organised the debate can watch or download the recording. It is stored privately with Cloudflare, and each link to watch or download it works for one hour. We keep it for 90 days after the debate ends, then delete it.

Streaming, if a side turns it on. A side can stream its view of the debate to its own YouTube or Twitch channel. To do that, we store:

• the channel’s address;
• the platform’s sign-in token or stream key, encrypted. The stream key is sent to LiveKit, our media provider, only so it can carry the stream to that platform. Neither is ever shown to the other side, or to anyone else;
• the broadcast’s title and privacy setting.

A stream is public on that side’s channel, under that platform’s own terms.

Payments. If you pay for a debate, Paddle, our reseller, collects your payment details and billing address and takes the payment. We receive the transaction’s reference, amount and currency, and never your card details.

Requests for a free debate. We store what you ask for and the note you write, and email you our answer.

Technical data. Our hosting providers keep standard request logs, such as IP addresses, browser type and request times, to run the service and keep it secure.

We don’t use analytics or advertising trackers, and we don’t sell your data.

Cookies

The only cookies are the ones Clerk sets to keep you signed in, and one that remembers the language you chose. The service can’t work without them, so there is nothing to opt out of.

Why we use it

We use your data to:

• run your debates;
• show both sides the same record of what happened;
• send your stream where you’ve told us to;
• take payment for the debates you buy, and answer your requests for free ones;
• keep the service secure.

We process it because providing the service you signed up for needs it, and so does keeping that service secure.

Who else handles it

Clerk

Accounts and sign-inUnited States

OpenAI

Optional AI debate setup and live voice preparationProcessing locations depend on the API service configuration

LiveKit

Live audio and video, and recording each debate. It receives a side’s stream key only to carry that side’s stream to its channelWorldwide: each participant connects through the nearest LiveKit data centre

Railway

The API and its databaseUnited States (Virginia)

Cloudflare

Storing debate recordings and the nightly backups of our database, running our domain’s DNS, and forwarding email sent to our contact addressRecordings and backups in Western Europe; DNS and email on Cloudflare’s network worldwide

Paddle

Payments, tax and receipts, as the merchant of record, while starting a debate is paid forUnited Kingdom and United States

Resend

Email about your requests for a free debate, while starting a debate needs payment or our approvalUnited States

Vercel

The websiteUnited States, and Vercel’s network worldwide

Google

Sign-in with Google, if you choose it; streaming to YouTube, if you connect a channelUnited States

Twitch

Streaming to Twitch, if you connect a channelUnited States

Each one handles your data only to provide its part of the service. Your data therefore leaves the UAE: most of it is processed in the United States.

How long we keep it

We keep your account for as long as it exists. The debates you took part in stay after you delete it, without your name (see “Deleting your account”). Recordings are deleted 90 days after their debate ends. The database is backed up every night, and each backup is deleted after 30 days. Records of payments are kept for as long as tax and accounting law requires, usually five years. Request logs are kept for up to 30 days.

Your rights

You can ask us to:

• tell you what data we hold about you, and send you a copy;
• send it to another service;
• correct it;
• delete it;
• restrict how we use it, or stop using it.

Write to privacy@debately.live. We reply within 30 days. If you think we have mishandled your data, you can complain to the UAE Data Office.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account yourself: open the account menu, choose Manage account, then Security, then Delete account. Clerk deletes your account, then tells Debately, which:

• erases the email address and display name we copied, keeping only an internal ID that no longer leads to any account;
• deletes the stream keys and platform sign-ins you gave us.

The debates you took part in stay, because the other side’s record of them is theirs too. Your seat shows your side’s name instead of yours, and the channel you streamed to, if any, stays in the record. A recording you appear in stays for the other side until its 90 days are up, and is then deleted. Your email address and display name stay in the database backups taken before you deleted your account until those backups are deleted, within 30 days.

You can also write to privacy@debately.live, and we will delete your account for you within 30 days.

Optional AI debate design

When you use the AI assistant, we send the debate topic, the names of the two sides, your prompts and the current draft to OpenAI to help set the debate up. Live voice sends your microphone audio directly to OpenAI and returns generated speech and transcripts. Debately does not store this preparation conversation or its audio. OpenAI processes it under its API data policies. The proposal is shown to the other side only when you choose to share it; both sides still need to accept it.

Security

Every connection is encrypted. The database is reachable only from inside our hosting project. Stream keys and platform tokens are encrypted, and nothing in the service returns them once they are stored.

Children

Debately is only for people aged 18 or over. We don’t knowingly collect data from anyone younger, and if we learn that we have, we delete their account.

Changes

If we change this policy, we update the date at the top. If the change is significant, we also say so on the site.