Privacy Policy
Effective date: 19 October 2026. This Privacy Policy explains how Tern Communications Private Limited ("Tern", "we", "us") collects, uses, shares and protects personal data when you use the Tern AI platform at platform.ternai.tech, our website at ternai.tech and related services (the "Service"), and what rights you have. It applies to our users and visitors. Section 5 explains how we handle information about journalists, creators and others who are listed on the Service without having signed up.
1. Who we are
1.1 Tern Communications Private Limited (registered office: Plot No. 9, AKMG Nagar, Dindigul 624001, Tamil Nadu, India; business address: 858-A, KCEE Manoharam, Panneerselvam Salai, Ashok Nagar, Chennai 600078, Tamil Nadu, India) is responsible for your personal data. That makes us a "data fiduciary" under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and a "controller" under the GDPR and UK GDPR.
1.2 We handle personal data in line with the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the rules under it, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 as it comes into force, and, for people in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom, the GDPR and UK GDPR.
1.3 You can reach us at info@ternai.tech. Our Grievance Officer's details are in Section 15.
2. What we collect
2.1 Information you give us:
- Account: name, work email, organisation, role, job title and password (stored only in hashed form).
- Profile: beats and topics, outlet or publication, expertise areas, social links, profile photo, pitch availability, media kit details, location settings and, for creators, audience figures, content categories and rate card.
- Content: pitches, messages, press releases, articles, briefing documents, files and attachments, campaign material, content links and approvals, calendar items and call details.
- Support: messages and attachments you send to support or through the contact form.
- Billing: billing name, country, tax details, and plan and invoice history. You enter card and bank details with our payment providers, Razorpay and Paddle. We do not store full card numbers.
2.2 Information collected automatically: usage data (features used, pitches sent and received, connections, searches, use of AI features), device and session data (browser, device type, IP address, login times), and cookies (see Section 12).
2.3 Please do not send sensitive personal data, such as health records, government identification numbers, or financial account or card numbers, unless the Service genuinely needs it.
3. Where else information comes from
- Other users and organisations: an administrator or colleague who invites you may give us your name and email, and other users may send you pitches or messages that mention you.
- Payment providers: Razorpay and Paddle confirm to us whether a payment succeeded and which plan was bought.
- Public sources and profile claims: for the media database, see Section 5.
4. How and why we use it
| Purpose | What it covers | Legal basis (GDPR and UK GDPR) |
|---|---|---|
| Provide the Service | Running your account, pitches, Messenger, calls, Content Hub, campaigns, calendar and notifications | Contract |
| Match and discover | Search, recommendations and AI pitch matching | Contract; legitimate interests |
| Payments | Subscriptions, invoices, taxes, fraud checks | Contract; legal obligation |
| Service messages | Verification codes, pitch notifications, meeting invites, claim notices, billing and security alerts | Contract; legitimate interests |
| Security and moderation | Preventing fraud and spam, rate limits, reports, suspensions and appeals | Legitimate interests; legal obligation |
| Support | Answering requests and the contact form | Contract; legitimate interests |
| Improve the Service | Fixing bugs, analysing usage, building features, and training and improving Tern's own AI features (see Section 7) | Legitimate interests |
| Marketing about Tern | Product news, which you can opt out of | Consent or legitimate interests, as the law requires |
| Legal | Complying with law, answering lawful requests, protecting rights | Legal obligation; legitimate interests |
4.1 Where Indian law requires your consent, we rely on the consent you give when you sign up and use the Service. You can withdraw it by deleting your account or writing to us. Withdrawal does not affect processing that already took place.
4.2 We do not sell personal data and we do not use it for third-party advertising. We do not make decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you by purely automated means.
5. The media database and people who have not signed up
5.1 Tern keeps profiles of journalists, editors, creators and media outlets so that communications professionals can find relevant people to pitch. Profiles come from publicly available media lists and other public sources, from information our users share, and from the person themselves once they claim their profile. A profile that has not been claimed is created by Tern.
5.2 A profile can contain a person's name, outlet or publication, job title, beats and topics, country and city, public social media links, public work contact details and pitch preferences. For creators and influencers it can also contain public social media handles, follower and audience figures, content categories and, if they add it, rate card details. We do not deliberately collect sensitive personal data about these people.
5.3 We do this because we have a legitimate interest in helping professionals reach people who cover relevant topics, which also helps those people receive relevant pitches instead of irrelevant ones. We weigh the impact on individuals, and we do not use their data for unrelated purposes. For people in India, we rely on information they have made public and on other grounds Indian law permits.
5.4 We limit what other users can see. Email addresses on unclaimed profiles are not shown to other users. On a claimed profile, an email address is shown only to users the person has connected with.
5.5 Claiming, correcting and removal. If you are listed, you can claim your profile, correct it, or ask us to remove it, without creating an account. Email info@ternai.tech and tell us which profile is yours.
- Verification: we check that the request comes from the person concerned, for example by emailing the address we hold, checking a work email on your outlet's domain, or asking for other proof. We may decline or delay a request we cannot verify, so that false requests from impostors or third parties do not succeed.
- Timing: once verified, we hide the profile from search and discovery promptly and complete the removal within 30 days.
- Scope: removal covers the profile Tern maintains. It does not delete messages, pitches or notes that other users have already sent, received or written, which stay in those users' workspaces. We keep a minimal record, such as your name and an identifier, so the profile is not created again, and we may keep data that we must keep by law or to defend claims.
- Other options: instead of removal, you can ask us to correct details or to change your pitch availability.
5.6 If we hold your work email address, we may contact you to tell you that a profile exists and to give you the chance to claim, correct or remove it.
5.7 Users are not allowed to scrape, export or resell profile information (see our Terms). Your rights in Section 11 apply in full to profiles in the media database.
5.8 Creators and influencers. Follower and audience figures on a profile come from public sources or from the creator, and may be estimates or out of date. A creator can edit them after claiming the profile. Social media platforms have their own terms and privacy practices, which we do not control.
6. Who we share data with
6.1 With other users, as the Service works. Your profile is visible to users searching for relevant contacts (subject to Section 5.4 for email addresses). A pitch or message you send is visible to its recipient. Content you share is visible to the people you share it with. Organisation administrators can see their organisation's workspace content and membership.
6.2 With service providers that process data for us under written terms, only to provide their services. The categories are below, and a full list of providers is available on request at info@ternai.tech.
| Provider category | What it does for Tern | Data involved |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud hosting | Runs the application and servers | Data processed by our servers, request data, IP address, session data |
| Database | Stores account, profile, content and usage data | Account, profile, content and usage data |
| File storage | Stores files, attachments and photos | Files, attachments, photos |
| Email delivery | Sends notifications and verification emails | Name, email address, notification content |
| Real-time calling | Runs calls and meetings | Call connection and media data |
| AI model providers | Produce the output of AI features, and help our team draft support replies and review abuse reports | Text you submit to AI features, support ticket messages, abuse reports, and the context needed for the result |
| Razorpay (payments in India) | Processes payments | Billing and transaction details |
| Paddle.com Market Limited (payments outside India, reseller and merchant of record) | Sells the Service to you and processes payments | Billing and transaction details; Paddle is an independent controller for its own tax, fraud and compliance purposes |
| Website hosting | Hosts ternai.tech | Visitor request data |
| Website forms (Google) | Collects invite requests made on ternai.tech | Name, work email, company, role and message |
| Web fonts (Google Fonts) | Serves the fonts used on ternai.tech | IP address and browser details |
6.3 With authorities or other parties when the law requires, to respond to legal process, or to protect rights, safety and security.
6.4 In a merger, acquisition, financing or sale of assets, personal data may transfer to the new owner, who must honour this policy.
6.5 We may share or publish aggregated or de-identified information that does not identify you.
7. AI features and your content
7.1 Features such as pitch drafting, AI pitch matching, contact discovery, search, the Story Assistant and the Content Hub writing tools send text and the context they need to our third-party AI model provider to produce a result. We send only what a feature needs. We also use the same provider in two internal tools: to help our team draft replies to support tickets you send us, and to help our team review abuse reports. These send the ticket or report text and the context needed.
7.2 We may use content and activity data from the Service to train, test and improve Tern's own AI features, such as matching, ranking, search and writing assistance, and we de-identify the data first where practicable. This includes information in media database profiles. We do not allow our AI providers to train their models on your content, and we do not use the contents of private messages and calls, or files shared only with named contacts, for this purpose. This applies to content submitted on or after the effective date of this policy; earlier content is used only with your agreement. You can object at any time by emailing info@ternai.tech, and we will stop using your content for this purpose from then on.
7.3 AI output can be wrong or incomplete, so review it before you rely on it or send it (see our Terms). Please do not put sensitive personal data into AI features.
8. International transfers
8.1 Tern is based in India. Your data may be processed in India and in other countries where our service providers operate, including the United States.
8.2 Where the law requires safeguards for such transfers, we use them, such as standard contractual clauses or equivalent contractual protections, and we transfer data only as Indian law allows.
9. How long we keep data
| Data | How long we keep it |
|---|---|
| Account, profile and content | Until you delete your account, then deleted or de-identified within 30 days |
| Backups | Deleted data may remain in encrypted backups for up to 12 months and is then removed automatically |
| Server and security logs | Up to 12 months |
| Support tickets and attachments | Up to 24 months after the ticket closes |
| Admin audit records | 12 months |
| Resolved abuse reports | 24 months after resolution |
| Billing and tax records | As Indian tax and company law require, typically up to 8 years |
| Removed media database profiles | A minimal suppression record, so the profile is not created again |
9.1 We may keep data longer where needed to establish or defend legal claims, to protect security, or to comply with law. When the period ends, we delete the data or de-identify it irreversibly.
10. Security
10.1 We protect data with measures that include encrypted connections (HTTPS), hashed passwords, role-based access controls, rate limiting and account lockout, regular security reviews, and restricted staff access.
10.2 No system is completely secure. Please protect your password and tell us at info@ternai.tech if you suspect your account has been compromised. If a personal data breach affects you, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as the law requires.
10.3 To report a security vulnerability, email info@ternai.tech.
11. Your rights and choices
11.1 Everyone. You can ask us to give you access to your personal data, correct or update it, delete it, or give you a copy, and you can withdraw consent or object to some processing. Many of these you can do yourself in Settings, such as editing your profile, changing notification preferences and deleting your account. To use any right, email info@ternai.tech from your account email address or, if you are not a user, tell us which profile is yours. We may ask you to verify your identity, and we respond within 30 days.
11.2 India. Indian data protection law also gives you the right to have your grievance addressed and to nominate another person to exercise your rights if you die or become incapable. Contact our Grievance Officer first. If the matter is not resolved, you may complain to the Data Protection Board of India.
11.3 EEA and UK. You also have the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction and portability, and the right to object, including to processing based on legitimate interests and to direct marketing. You can complain to your local supervisory authority, which in the UK is the Information Commissioner's Office.
11.4 California and other US states. If state law gives you rights to know, delete, correct or opt out, you can use them by emailing us. We do not sell personal data or share it for cross-context behavioural advertising, and we do not treat you differently for exercising your rights.
11.5 Marketing and service emails. You can turn off marketing and non-essential notification emails in Settings or through the unsubscribe link. Service messages about security, billing and verification cannot be turned off while you have an account.
11.6 We may decline a request where the law allows, for example where it would reveal another person's data or we must keep the data for legal reasons. If we do, we will tell you why.
12. Cookies and similar technologies
12.1 We use only essential cookies, to keep you signed in, protect the Service and remember which organisation you are working in. We do not use third-party advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.
12.2 Because we use only essential cookies, our cookie banner tells you about them rather than asking you to choose. You can block cookies in your browser, but the Service may not work without essential cookies. We do not track you across other sites, so we do not treat Do Not Track signals differently.
12.3 Some pages load services from third parties. ternai.tech loads fonts from Google Fonts. When you pay through Razorpay, our checkout loads Razorpay's payment script, and when you pay through Paddle, our checkout loads Paddle's checkout script. Each may set its own cookies to process and secure your payment, under that provider's privacy policy.
13. Children
13.1 The Service is for business use by people aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18. If you believe a child has given us personal data, email us and we will delete it.
14. Changes to this policy
14.1 We may update this policy. For material changes we will notify you by email or in the Service before they take effect. The effective date at the top of this page shows the latest version.
15. Grievance Officer and contact
Tern Communications Private Limited
Registered office: Plot No. 9, AKMG Nagar, Dindigul 624001, Tamil Nadu, India. Business address: 858-A, KCEE Manoharam, Panneerselvam Salai, Ashok Nagar, Chennai 600078, Tamil Nadu, India.
Email: info@ternai.tech
Grievance Officer: Venkat Raja Kathirvel, Founder, info@ternai.tech. We acknowledge privacy complaints within 24 hours and aim to resolve them within 15 days.