What this policy covers
Loopal is a community recommendations and local events directory for South Africa. This policy explains what personal information we collect through the site, why, how long we keep it, and how you can request that information about you be corrected or removed — including if someone else listed you (for example, a happy customer sharing your business's phone number as a recommendation) without asking you first.
Information we collect
When you use Loopal, we may collect:
- If you submit a recommendation: the business or service provider's name, category, phone number, address, website, and a description — plus your own name, which is stored as the submitter ("recommended by").
- If you submit an event: the event name, date, time, location, description, and the organizer's name and contact details.
- If you leave a comment: the name you enter and the comment text.
- If you report a listing: the reason you select and any optional details you type. Reports are anonymous — we don't ask for or store your name or contact details.
- Anonymous usage data: a hashed, non-reversible identifier (derived from your IP address and a long-lived cookie) used only to stop the same visitor voting "thumbs up" or RSVPing to the same listing more than once. We don't store your raw IP address or use this identifier for anything else.
- Basic analytics: which listings get viewed, called, or messaged via WhatsApp, and what people search for — used to understand what's useful on the site, not tied to your name or contact details.
We do not require accounts or passwords to use the public site, and we don't knowingly collect information from children.
Why we process this information
The purpose of Loopal is connecting people with local businesses and services their neighbours have recommended, and helping people find out about local events. We process the information above only to operate that service: displaying listings, letting the community vote on and comment on them, and moderating reported content.
If you were listed by someone else
Loopal is built around people recommending other businesses and service providers — which means the person or business named in a listing is often not the person who submitted it. If you've been listed on Loopal and didn't ask to be, or the information about you is wrong or out of date, you have a direct way to request a correction or removal:
- Open the listing on Loopal, click "Report", and choose "This listing is about me — request correction/removal". This goes straight to an admin for review.
- Or email us directly at TheLoopalSA@gmail.com with a link to the listing and what you'd like changed or removed.
We aim to review these requests promptly. We may ask for enough detail to confirm you're the person (or an authorized representative of the business) the listing is about, so we don't action a removal request from someone unrelated to the listing.
How long we keep information
Recommendations, events, and comments are kept until an admin removes them (for example, following a report or a removal request) or until you ask us to remove information about you as described above. There's currently no automatic deletion period — if you'd like something removed, please use one of the routes above rather than assuming it will expire on its own.
Who we share information with
We don't sell or rent your information. Loopal runs on infrastructure provided by third-party service providers who process data on our behalf strictly to operate the site — currently Supabase (database and file storage) and Vercel (hosting). We use OpenStreetMap's Nominatim service to convert addresses into map coordinates; the address text you submit is sent to that service for this purpose.
Cookies
Loopal sets one first-party cookie (loopal_vid) used only for the anonymous vote/RSVP
deduplication described above. It doesn't track you across other websites and isn't used for advertising.
Your rights under POPIA
Under South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), you generally have the right to know what personal information we hold about you, to ask us to correct or delete it, and to object to how it's processed. You can exercise these rights using the contact details above. If you're not satisfied with our response, you have the right to complain to South Africa's Information Regulator.
Security
We take reasonable technical measures to protect the information Loopal holds (including restricting admin access and using encrypted connections), but no online service can guarantee perfect security.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the site changes. The "last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision.
Contact us
Questions about this policy, or a request relating to your information: TheLoopalSA@gmail.com.