Privacy without the fine-print maze.

1. Scope and who we are

FOUR16 is a work and community platform operated from Zambia. In this policy, “FOUR16”, “we”, “us” and “our” mean the FOUR16 service responsible for deciding how personal information is used. This policy applies to our public website, member accounts, jobs, projects, marketplace, events, messaging, Workspaces and Venture workspaces.

It does not govern a third-party website or service that you choose to visit from S Media. Those services publish their own privacy terms.

2. Information we collect

Information from other people

Employers, collaborators and community members may provide information about you when they apply, invite, review, report, tag or communicate with you. We may also receive authentication and security signals from service providers used to sign you in and protect the platform.

Cookies and local preferences

We use essential cookies for a secure signed-in session and small preference cookies for choices such as appearance or an active business workspace. These are used to provide the feature you requested, not to build an advertising profile across other websites.

3. How we use information

Depending on the feature and applicable law, we process information to:

• create and secure accounts, profiles and authenticated sessions;
• show posts, jobs, workers, projects, listings and events to relevant people;
• deliver messages, notifications, applications and collaboration tools;
• operate organisation, hiring, hotel and real-estate workspaces;
• detect fraud, spam, abuse, unsafe content and violations of platform rules;
• investigate reports, appeals, restrictions, disputes and privacy requests;
• maintain, troubleshoot and improve reliability, accessibility and performance;
• comply with legal obligations and protect people, FOUR16 and the public.

Our basis may be providing the service you requested, your consent, our legitimate interest in operating a useful and safe platform, or a legal obligation. Where a feature relies on consent, you may withdraw it, although that does not make earlier lawful processing invalid.

4. How information is shared

With the audience you choose

Public profile details and content marked public can be seen by anyone. Content limited to friends, a Workspace, an organisation, a project or a conversation is shared with that selected audience. Your choices do not stop another recipient from retaining information they lawfully received.

With organisations and service providers

Employers, organisations and workspace administrators receive information needed to evaluate applications or run the workspace. Infrastructure providers may process data for authentication, hosting, databases, media storage, notifications, security and communications under our instructions and safeguards.

For safety or legal reasons

We may preserve or disclose information where reasonably necessary to comply with law, respond to valid legal process, prevent serious harm, investigate abuse, enforce platform rules or protect rights and property. We review requests before disclosure unless the law prevents us from doing so.

5. Retention and deletion

We keep personal information while it is needed to provide the service and for the period required by applicable law. The exact period depends on the type of data, why it was collected, account activity, safety needs, disputes, legal claims and required record-keeping.

• Profile and content data generally remains while your account is active.
• Short-lived session, security and operational data expires or is rotated.
• Reports, audit records and transaction or dispute evidence may be retained longer where needed for safety, fraud prevention, legal claims or compliance.
• Backups are protected and age out on their normal cycle; deleted data is not restored to the live service from backup.

To ask us to erase your account data, use the Data Deletion page. It explains what is removed, what may legally remain and how to submit a verified request.

6. Your privacy rights

Subject to applicable law and necessary identity checks, you may request access to, correction of, deletion of, restriction of or portability of your personal data. You may also object to certain processing and withdraw consent where consent is the basis.

Zambia’s Data Protection Act, 2021 describes rights of access, rectification, erasure, objection, restriction and data portability. Some rights have exceptions, including legal obligations and the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

You can update many profile fields directly. A verified deletion request can be submitted online. We may ask for information needed to confirm identity, clarify the request or protect another person’s rights.

7. Security and international processing

We use layered technical and organisational safeguards, including authenticated access, role-based permissions, private storage for sensitive documents, audit trails, step-up checks for high-risk administration and encryption provided by our transport and infrastructure services. No online service can promise absolute security, so please use a unique password and protect access to your phone and email.

Some providers may process information in countries other than the one where you live. Where cross-border processing occurs, we apply the safeguards and approvals required for the information and transfer involved.

8. Questions, requests and complaints

For account erasure, start with our verified deletion request. For correction, update your profile or use the reporting controls available on the relevant account or content. Privacy requests are separated from ordinary support and are reviewed by authorised platform staff.

If you believe your personal information has been handled contrary to applicable law, you may also lodge a complaint with Zambia’s Data Protection Commissioner. You can read the official Data Protection Act, 2021 and visit the Data Protection Commission.

We may revise this policy as the service or law changes. A material update will be shown through the service, and the effective date at the top will change.