Privacy Policy
Last updated:
This policy explains what personal data Afriklang collects, why, who we share it with, how long we keep it and the rights you have over it. It is written to meet the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the data protection laws of the African countries where we operate.
1. Who we are
Afriklang, Inc. ("Afriklang", "we", "us") is the controller of the personal data described in this policy. We build commercially licensed African-language speech datasets for companies that train and evaluate AI models.
For any privacy question or request, email contact@afriklang.com or use the form at the bottom of this page.
2. What this policy covers
This policy applies when you:
- visit afriklang.com;
- book a call, request data or samples, or offer us an introduction;
- apply to become a contributor (speaker or annotator) or take part in a recording campaign;
- subscribe to our newsletter;
- work at a company we contact or do business with.
Contributors who record for a campaign also sign a specific consent form in the contributor app before any recording. That form takes precedence over this policy for the recordings it covers.
3. What we collect and why
We only collect what we need for each purpose. The table below lists each activity, the data involved, why we use it and the legal basis under GDPR Article 6.
- Activity
- Booking a call
- Data
- Name, work email, company, role, message, chosen time slot and time zone
- Purpose
- Schedule the call, send the calendar invite and follow up
- Legal basis
- Steps taken at your request before a contract; legitimate interest in answering business enquiries
- Activity
- Data or sample request
- Data
- Name, email, company, project requirements (languages, volume, use case, budget, timeline)
- Purpose
- Answer your request and prepare a proposal
- Legal basis
- Steps taken at your request before a contract
- Activity
- Introduction offer
- Data
- Name, email and the details you share
- Purpose
- Follow up on the introduction you offered
- Legal basis
- Legitimate interest
- Activity
- Contributor application
- Data
- Name, email, phone or WhatsApp, country, languages, experience, availability, voice sample or portfolio link, interview slot
- Purpose
- Review your application and run the interview
- Legal basis
- Your consent (checkbox on the form); steps before a contract
- Activity
- Recording campaigns
- Data
- Account details, languages, and the demographic attributes you choose to share (such as gender, age range, accent or region), voice recordings, transcriptions, device type, hours worked and payment records
- Purpose
- Produce, quality-check and deliver speech datasets, and pay you
- Legal basis
- Our contract with you; your explicit consent for recordings and demographic attributes
- Activity
- Newsletter
- Data
- Email, name, language
- Purpose
- Send our monthly newsletter
- Legal basis
- Your consent, which you can withdraw with the unsubscribe link in every email
- Activity
- Privacy requests
- Data
- The details you send us
- Purpose
- Handle your request and keep a record of it
- Legal basis
- Legal obligation
- Activity
- Website analytics
- Data
- See section 6
- Purpose
- Understand how the site is used and improve it
- Legal basis
- Your consent for cookies and session replay; legitimate interest for cookieless counting
- Activity
- Security
- Data
- IP address, request metadata, server and error logs
- Purpose
- Rate limiting, abuse prevention and keeping the service running
- Legal basis
- Legitimate interest
- Activity
- Business development
- Data
- Name, job title, work email and public professional profile of people at companies that may need our datasets, collected from public sources
- Purpose
- Contact companies about our services
- Legal basis
- Legitimate interest; you can object at any time
| Activity | Data | Purpose | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Booking a call | Name, work email, company, role, message, chosen time slot and time zone | Schedule the call, send the calendar invite and follow up | Steps taken at your request before a contract; legitimate interest in answering business enquiries |
| Data or sample request | Name, email, company, project requirements (languages, volume, use case, budget, timeline) | Answer your request and prepare a proposal | Steps taken at your request before a contract |
| Introduction offer | Name, email and the details you share | Follow up on the introduction you offered | Legitimate interest |
| Contributor application | Name, email, phone or WhatsApp, country, languages, experience, availability, voice sample or portfolio link, interview slot | Review your application and run the interview | Your consent (checkbox on the form); steps before a contract |
| Recording campaigns | Account details, languages, and the demographic attributes you choose to share (such as gender, age range, accent or region), voice recordings, transcriptions, device type, hours worked and payment records | Produce, quality-check and deliver speech datasets, and pay you | Our contract with you; your explicit consent for recordings and demographic attributes |
| Newsletter | Email, name, language | Send our monthly newsletter | Your consent, which you can withdraw with the unsubscribe link in every email |
| Privacy requests | The details you send us | Handle your request and keep a record of it | Legal obligation |
| Website analytics | See section 6 | Understand how the site is used and improve it | Your consent for cookies and session replay; legitimate interest for cookieless counting |
| Security | IP address, request metadata, server and error logs | Rate limiting, abuse prevention and keeping the service running | Legitimate interest |
| Business development | Name, job title, work email and public professional profile of people at companies that may need our datasets, collected from public sources | Contact companies about our services | Legitimate interest; you can object at any time |
We do not use automated decision-making that has legal or similarly significant effects on you. We do not sell personal data.
4. Voice recordings and AI training
Recordings are the core of our datasets. If you record for a campaign:
- You consent explicitly, in the contributor app, before any recording, and you see which consent version you signed.
- Recordings, transcriptions and the attributes you chose to share are licensed to our customers to train and evaluate speech and language AI models.
- In datasets we deliver, you appear under a pseudonymous speaker ID. We do not deliver your name, email, phone number or payment details to customers.
- We never use your voice to identify you or to create a voice clone of you.
- You can withdraw your consent at any time from your contributor profile or by emailing us. Withdrawal stops all new recording, and we remove your recordings from datasets not yet delivered. Copies already delivered under licence before your withdrawal cannot be recalled, but we will no longer include you in any new delivery.
7. International transfers
Our team and some of our providers are located outside the European Economic Area and the UK, including in the United States and in Africa. When personal data leaves the EEA or the UK, we rely on an adequacy decision (such as the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, where the provider is certified) or on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses with additional safeguards where needed. You can ask us for a copy of these safeguards.
8. How long we keep data
- Data
- Call bookings and data requests
- Retention
- Up to 3 years after our last exchange, unless you become a customer
- Data
- Customer records and invoices
- Retention
- As long as the contract runs, then as long as tax and accounting law requires
- Data
- Contributor applications not taken forward
- Retention
- Deleted once we decide not to move forward
- Data
- Contributor accounts and payment records
- Retention
- While your account is active, then as long as accounting law requires
- Data
- Recordings in delivered datasets
- Retention
- For the licence term agreed with customers, under the conditions in section 4
- Data
- Newsletter subscription
- Retention
- Until you unsubscribe; we keep a record of the opt-out so we don't email you again
- Data
- Privacy requests
- Retention
- 3 years after we close the request
- Data
- Security logs and rate-limit counters
- Retention
- From minutes (counters) to 180 days (logs)
| Data | Retention |
|---|---|
| Call bookings and data requests | Up to 3 years after our last exchange, unless you become a customer |
| Customer records and invoices | As long as the contract runs, then as long as tax and accounting law requires |
| Contributor applications not taken forward | Deleted once we decide not to move forward |
| Contributor accounts and payment records | While your account is active, then as long as accounting law requires |
| Recordings in delivered datasets | For the licence term agreed with customers, under the conditions in section 4 |
| Newsletter subscription | Until you unsubscribe; we keep a record of the opt-out so we don't email you again |
| Privacy requests | 3 years after we close the request |
| Security logs and rate-limit counters | From minutes (counters) to 180 days (logs) |
9. Security
We encrypt data in transit and at rest, restrict access on a need-to-know basis, require multi-factor authentication for staff access to our admin tools, keep audit logs of admin actions and redact personal data from application logs.
10. Your rights
Depending on where you live, you have the right to:
- access the personal data we hold about you and get a copy of it;
- have inaccurate data corrected;
- have your data erased;
- receive your data in a portable format;
- object to processing based on legitimate interest, including business development;
- restrict how we process your data;
- withdraw consent at any time, without affecting what we did before you withdrew it.
Use the form below or email us. We answer within one month, and we may ask you to confirm your identity before acting on your request. Making a request is free.
You can also complain to a data protection authority: in the EU or UK, the authority where you live or work (for example the CNIL in France or the ICO in the UK); in Africa, for example Ghana's Data Protection Commission or Togo's Instance de Protection des Données à Caractère Personnel (IPDCP). We'd appreciate the chance to address your concern first.
11. Children
Our services are not aimed at children. Contributors must be at least 18. If you think a child has given us personal data, contact us and we will delete it.
12. Changes to this policy
We'll update the date at the top of this page whenever we change the policy. If a change significantly affects how we use data you have already given us, we'll tell you by email or in the contributor app before it applies.
Make a privacy request
Ask to access, correct, delete or export your data, object to its use or withdraw a consent. We'll reply within one month.