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Privacy Policy for the Use of LOVOO

Last updated: 04/05/2024

Thank you for using LOVOO. Read on to find out what personal data LOVOO collects, how we handle this data, and the choices you have as a user. The following Privacy Policy is applicable to the LOVOO website and the LOVOO mobile application (“website,” “app,” or “online offering”).

Please refer to our Cookie and Tracking Policy for information on how we process data related to cookies and other tracking technologies when you use the LOVOO website and app.

Contents

Contact / Data Controller

Collection, Processing, and Use of Personal Data

Processing Purposes

Legal Basis for the Processing of Personal Data

FORWARDING OF DATA TO THIRD PARTIES; SERVICE PROVIDERS

HOW DO WE PROTECT YOUR DATA?

DURATION OF STORAGE; RETENTION REQUIREMENTS

ARE YOU REQUIRED TO PROVIDE US WITH PERSONAL DATA?

OVERVIEW OF DATA SUBJECT RIGHTS

Social Media

COOKIES AND OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES

APPENDIX: TECHNOLOGICAL INFORMATION

Contact / Data Controller

Unless specified otherwise in this Privacy Policy or in our Cookies & Tracking Notice, PE Digital GmbH (hereinafter referred to as “LOVOO”, “we” or “us”) is the controller responsible for data processing.

If you would like to get in touch with us, you can contact us using the following information:

PE Digital GmbH, LOVOO Customer Care Team, Speersort 10, 20095 Hamburg, Germany, datenschutz@lovoo.com (email)

Our Data Protection Officer can be reached at:

Dr. Stefanie Wegener, datenschutz@lovoo.com (email)

Speersort 10

20095 Hamburg

If you have any comments or suggestions regarding privacy, please do not hesitate to contact us or our Data Protection Officer.

Our UK representative is:

eHarmony UK Ltd., 6-10 Great Portland Street, London W1W 8QL, Great Britain

Our Swiss representative is:

Treforma AG

c/o MLL Legal

Grabenstrasse 25

6340 Baar

E-Mail: pedigital@mll-gdpr.com

Collection, Processing, and Use of Personal Data

Personal data is all information pertaining to an identified or identifiable natural person (e.g. name, address, telephone number, date of birth, and email address).

When we process personal data, this means that we collect, store, use this data, forward it to others, or delete it.

LOVOO will only collect and process your personal data in the following cases:

  • If you visit our website and are not a user.
  • If you contact us directly.
  • If you install the LOVOO app.
  • If you register on LOVOO or subscribe to LOVOO and then use LOVOO.

You provide your personal data on a voluntary basis when entering into a contractual relationship with LOVOO or as part of an existing contractual relationship with LOVOO. However, you are required to provide special categories of personal data (e.g. your own gender or the gender you are interested in, which is in each case data relating to sexual orientation), as well as to answer questions about your LOVOO profile, in order to register on LOVOO. You must make your profile information visible to other LOVOO users in order to use the LOVOO service.

Please note that we provide the LOVOO service in many different countries and the information in your profile is visible to other users in all of these countries. Your profile will be displayed in the country corresponding to your GPS location, provided you have agreed to this, and the search settings of the respective user. If we cannot access your GPS location, we will use your IP address and country code to set your approximate location to your state capital.

If you do not want LOVOO to process your personal data or parts of it, LOVOO cannot provide its service as stated in the Terms and Conditions.

What data LOVOO collects in detail, you can see in the following explanations.

Data Processing by App Stores

If you install the LOVOO app using a third-party app store operator (e.g. Google or Apple), you may have to enter into a usage agreement with the respective app store operator regarding access to its portal. To gain this access, you must have a valid account with the app store operator and an appropriate terminal device (e.g. smartphone); LOVOO has no control over data processing in this context. The app store operator of the respective app platform is the sole data controller. If needed, please contact the app store operator (third-party provider) directly for information about its data processing. In this case, LOVOO is only the data controller when the LOVOO app is used.

What Data Does LOVOO Collect From Users in Order to Fulfill the Contractual Relationship?

LOVOO must process the personal data described below that you (also referred to as “LOVOO user”) provide during the registration process in order to render the services described in more detail in our General Terms and Conditions.

Registration Process

When registering, which is initially free of charge, the user is asked to provide a minimum amount of data that are required to complete the registration process. This data includes:

  • Username (pseudonym)
  • City
  • Date of birth
  • Your own gender and the gender you are interested in (indicates your sexual orientation and is therefore a special category of personal data)
  • Profile picture
  • Phone number (if you register via mobile phone)
  • Email address
  • Password selected by the user

If you have selected login through third-party providers such as Facebook, Google, Snapchat or Apple, you do not provide an email address or a password during the registration process.

Users then access LOVOO using the email address they provided and the password they selected (login credentials) or, alternatively, using the login credentials of the third-party provider.

Registering via Facebook (“Facebook login”)

LOVOO offers single sign-on via Facebook. This offers you the option of registering via your Facebook account. If you use the function, we receive and process the following authentication data from Facebook for the registration: Your email address, profile name, gender, date of birth, and profile picture stored there. Data is transferred in this respect.

When you log in to our website or app using Facebook, Facebook will also collect data from third-party scripts, process it for Facebook analytics purposes, or forward it to third parties. Facebook’s Privacy Policy outlines the data that may be collected when you use the Facebook login. This includes data about your device, your use of LOVOO, the websites you have visited, and the ads you have viewed. Unfortunately, you technically cannot refuse this processing on LOVOO. If you would not like Facebook to collect data about you related to your use of our online offering and to use it for its own purposes, you should not use the Facebook login.

You can disassociate your LOVOO account from your Facebook account at any time on our website. In this case, we would need you to provide the aforementioned access data. Unfortunately, this cannot be done on the LOVOO app.

Further information about the purpose and scope of the collection and the further processing and use of your data by Facebook, as well as your rights and settings options for protecting your data, is available in Facebook’s Privacy Policy: http://www.facebook.com/policy.php.

Registration/Login via Google

If you use an Android end device, we offer you the option of registering on or logging in to LOVOO via your Google account. If you do this, Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland (“Google”) will provide us with the data required for registration or login (email address, name, Google Account ID, and Google Account profile picture).

We have no control over the scope of the data collected by Google using the Google login. If you would not like Google to collect data about you related to your use of our online offering and to use it for its own purposes, you should not use the Google login.

Further information about the purpose and scope of the collection and the further processing and use of your data by Google, as well as your rights and settings options for protecting your data, is available in Google’s Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy.

Registration/Login via Apple Sign-In

If you use an iOS end device, we offer you the option of registering on or logging in to LOVOO via Apple. If you choose to do so, Apple Inc., One Apple Park Way, Cupertino, California, USA, 95014 (“Apple”) will provide us with the information you select and which is required for registration or login (e.g. Apple-generated email address, name).

We have no control over the scope of the data collected by Apple using the Apple login. If you would not like Apple to collect data about you related to your use of our online offering and to use it for its own purposes, you should not use the Apple login.

Further information about the purpose and scope of the collection and the further processing and use of your data by Apple, as well as your rights and settings options for protecting your data, is available in Apple’s Privacy Policy: https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/data/en/sign-in-with-apple/.

When registering/logging in via telephone authentication

When registering/logging in via telephone authentication we offer to authenticate by your mobile number, therefore you must provide us with your mobile phone number. We will then send you an SMS with a verification code that you must enter in the app to complete the registration process. When you want to log in, we will send you an SMS with a code that you can use to log into your account. In addition, a verification process will take place. This service (Firebase service) is provided by Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland, in the USA, and is only possible if you have given us your prior consent.

Further information about the purpose and scope of the processing of your data by Google can be found in Google’s privacy policy: https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy.

Voluntary Information

You can also enter a variety of voluntary information in your user account, e.g. by uploading additional pictures to your profile, entering information on specific questions, and setting search filters (e.g. age and gender). This voluntary information is visible to other logged-in LOVOO users on LOVOO, but it can be deleted or modified by the account holder at any time in the user account settings. If the user specifies the gender or age he/she is looking for, only users of this gender or age will be displayed in the dating feature.

This data is specifically used for LOVOO’s feature for selecting recommendations for other user accounts according to different criteria for the user and displaying them on LOVOO. Providing additional information increases your chances of making contact with suitable LOVOO users.

Shared Content

LOVOO users can share content with other users through the platform, for example by sharing content in chat messages, including voice messages.

Information Regarding Sexual Orientation

You may provide information on our platform about your gender and the gender you prefer with regard to matches and other users. If you do provide this information, LOVOO or other users may infer your sexual orientation.

This information may be public depending on the function and/or settings on the platform. You may revoke your consent to your data being processed at any time (see section “Your Right to Revoke Consent” below).

Processing of Location Data

This online offering also includes location-based services. This includes the “Nearby” function. You can find a detailed description of this function in our LOVOO GTCs. We record the location of your mobile end device using the GPS function for this purpose. This requires that you have explicitly requested the corresponding services and/or consented to the processing of location data. You can also disable our access to location data at any time in your mobile terminal device’s device settings.

Taking out a premium subscription

If you decide to purchase a paid LOVOO service (a “premium subscription”) through LOVOO, the following information will be collected within the order process in addition to the data collected during the basic membership:

  • Surname and first name
  • Payment and billing details (credit card details or PayPal data are stored by the payment provider, not by LOVOO).

Ordering virtual goods

If you decide to purchase credits within the LOVOO app, the following information shall be collected within the order process in addition to the data collected during registration:

  • Payment details (credit card details and PayPal data are stored by the payment provider, not by LOVOO).

Placing orders through third parties

If you order a premium subscription or credits through an app store operator (e.g. Google or Apple) as a third-party provider, these app platform operators’ terms of use specify what personal data they process in the course of the order process. LOVOO does not process any payment and billing details in this respect.

Communication Between Users, Communication With Our Customer Care Team, and Communication via Video Chat

LOVOO keeps a record of communication between users that takes place on the LOVOO platform, as well as of communication with our Customer Care Team. Communication between users who are logged in is encrypted.

Please bear the following in mind with regard to communication with our Customer Care Team:

If you communicate with our Customer Care Team

1) using the contact form, the transmission will be encrypted; our response to your request is encrypted during transport where your mail provider supports Transport Layer Security (TLS) transport encryption; 2) via email, the transmission of emails will be encrypted during transport where your mail provider supports Transport Layer Security (TLS) transport encryption. 3) via our chat bot Lou, the transmission of chat messages will be encrypted during transport where your device supports Transport Layer Security (TLS) transport encryption.

If you would like to communicate via email using content encryption, we kindly ask that you contact LOVOO by post instead. Our address is available under Contact.

For authentication reasons, please make sure that you only communicate with LOVOO using the email address you provided to LOVOO.

As a user, you can use our video chat feature to communicate with one other user. End-to-end encryption is used for this type of communication between two users. You can also use our livestream on LOVOO. This livestream can be viewed by many users. Information and data are encrypted during transport. In this context, LOVOO uses a service provider based in the USA (The Meet Group), with whom LOVOO has concluded a data processing agreement. It includes the EU standard contractual clauses. We need to process various data (including the IP address and profile data) in order to render these services and to moderate livestreams. If you do not want this data to be processed, you are advised not to use these services.

Violations of our Community Guidelines

If a user reports potential illegal content or violations of our Community Guidelines (“undesirable content”) or complains about our customer service, the following information will be collected in addition to the data already listed in the section above:

  • Name or address details provided in the report or complaint, in particular the email address;
  • In the context of reporting chats: the last chat exchanged, the last chat messages exchanged;
  • Content of any attachment uploaded in the context of the complaint (such as profile pictures and/or chat messages, including voice messages)

Promotional Emails and Push Notifications

When you create a user account, you enter your email address during registration or Facebook sends it to us (in the case of registration via Facebook). To the extent permitted by law, this email address or any new email addresses you may subsequently provide will be used to send promotional emails for PE Digital GmbH’s free and paid products, without your consent being required to this effect.

Promotional emails are encrypted during transport where your mail provider supports Transport Layer Security (TLS) transport encryption.

If you would like to stop receiving promotional emails from LOVOO, you can opt out of the use of the email address stored in your profile for such purposes at any time: (1) To do this, click on the unsubscribe link at the end of the relevant email or (2) log into your profile on the LOVOO website, go to Settings – Emails from LOVOO – Disable Notifications or (3) contact LOVOO’s Customer Care Team.

If you again wish to receive promotional emails at a later point in time, (1) log into your profile on the LOVOO website, go to Settings – Emails from LOVOO – Enable Notifications or (2) contact our Customer Care Team.

Push Notifications

If your mobile device supports this, we will send you push notifications when you use the LOVOO app, even if you are not using the app at the time. These are messages that we send you in the course of fulfilling the contract, as well as promotional information.

You can modify or stop the receipt of push notifications at any time in the device settings of your mobile end device or on the LOVOO app.

What Data Does LOVOO Collect When You Use the LOVOO Website?

Unless otherwise indicated in the following, usage data pertaining to those visiting the website – even if they are not LOVOO users – is transmitted by the respective Internet browser and saved in protocol files, which are known as server log files, each time the LOVOO website is accessed. This data includes:

  • Information about the browser type and the Internet service provider of the user and the operating system in use (e.g. Windows 7, Apple OS).
  • IP address (Internet protocol address) of the visiting computer, tablet or smartphone (the IP address is also checked against a geodatabase and the origin or country, state and city of the user(s) is determined.) In this context, LOVOO uses services including MaxMind (see explanations on this below)
  • Name of the accessed page
  • Date and time of request
  • Referrer URL (origin URL) the user used to access the retrieved page
  • Transferred data quantity
  • Status report on whether the retrieval was successful
  • Session identification number (session ID)
  • If required, session participant pseudonym
  • Username (profile ID) on the LOVOO platform (only of LOVOO users)
  • Used screen resolution

The login records also store the user ID on the LOVOO platform each time LOVOO users log in to LOVOO.

In addition to the aforementioned data, cookies or pseudonymous IDs (such as user ID and ad ID) may be stored on your end device during or after your visit to the LOVOO website. Detailed information on this is available in our Cookie and Tracking Policy.

What Data Does LOVOO Collect When You Use the LOVOO App?

Each time the LOVOO app is accessed by the end device of the user(s), LOVOO automatically collects data and information from the operating system of the accessing device. This includes the storage of the IP address. LOVOO specifically collects the following:

Usage data

Each time the LOVOO app is accessed, usage data pertaining to the relevant LOVOO user is transferred and stored. This data includes:

  • The operating system and, if applicable, browser type used
  • Current language settings of the smartphone
  • Information about the Internet service provider of the user
  • IP address (Internet protocol address) of the accessing computer
  • Device ID (e.g. UDID, IDFV) for the identification of your device(s) to ensure secure authentication
  • Sensor data (if you use an Android end device)
  • Device-specific information (e.g. manufacturer, device model)
  • Username on the LOVOO platform (only of LOVOO users)
  • Date and time of request
  • Date and time of request
  • Transferred data quantity
  • Status report on whether the retrieval was successful In addition to the aforementioned data, tracking technologies or pseudonymous IDs (such as your advertising ID (e.g. Apple’s IDFA (identifier for advertisers) and Google’s advertising ID) may be retrieved from your end device while or after you use the LOVOO app. Detailed information on this is available in our Cookie and Tracking Policy.

Login data

The following usage data is stored in the login records each time LOVOO users log in:

  • Date and time of login
  • Username on the LOVOO platform (email address)
  • Password or transfer of single sign-on login data
  • IP address (Internet protocol address)
  • Device ID (e.g. UDID) for the identification of your device(s) to ensure secure authentication

In addition to the aforementioned data, pseudonymous IDs (such as user ID and ad ID) may be stored on your end device while or after you use the LOVOO app. Detailed information on this is available in our Cookie and Tracking Policy.

GPS Data When the LOVOO App Is Used

If you, a LOVOO user, use the setting options for the area search, the location data of your device will be accessed at that time (GPS, possibly WLAN information, and device ID). This information is used to determine your location so that you can set a suitable search radius.

Processing Purposes

LOVOO processes the personal data of its users for the following purposes and in accordance with the legal bases listed below. If the data processing is conducted on the legal basis of a legitimate interest, we also explain our legitimate interest in data processing in the following:

  • Zur Bereitstellung der LOVOO Plattform und damit zur Erfüllung der Leistungen, die in unseren Allgemeinen Geschäftsbedingungen beschrieben sind. Dies beinhaltet insbesondere:
    • Providing our website to non-registered users;
    • Providing and use of our website and app for registered LOVOO users;
    • Providing the option of making contact and answering requests via the platform;
    • Enabling the conclusion of a contract, including invoicing;
    • (The legal basis of processing is the fulfillment of the contract with you. (The legal basis of processing is the fulfillment of the contract with you. In some cases, the legal basis is also your consent. The legal basis is also our legal obligation as well as the legitimate interest in providing customer service and improving the customer experience)
  • To ensure compliance with our Community Guidelines and to process reports of violations of our Community Guidelines (“content moderation”); to forward reports of illegal content to the competent investigating authorities
  • (The legal basis is the fulfillment of our legal obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA); in particular Articles 18 and 16 of the DSA)
  • To handle complaints against action taken due to violations of our Community Guidelines (internal complaints management)
  • (The legal basis is the fulfillment of our legal obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA); in particular Article 20 of the DSA) For the provision of a login via the LOVOO platform, the Facebook login, the Google Sign in, the Apple Sign in as well as the registration/login via telephone authentication. (The legal basis of processing is the fulfillment of our contract.)
  • Preventing and fighting misuse (particularly to prevent and combat fake profiles, scamming, unlawful acts and spam, as well as ensuring the integrity and stability of the LOVOO platform). LOVOO collects, processes and uses personal data – as well as geographic data and device IDs collected in connection with your registration and completion of the LOVOO profile – for the purpose of conducting automated checks to determine whether there are indications or data to suggest that LOVOO is being misused. The data is stored in a database and checked against empirical values. If automated processing reveals suspected misuse, a LOVOO employee will review the assessment and the underlying indications, and subsequently any free text information and the saved profile photos. LOVOO also provides its users with a feature called “Report profile” and checks profiles through members of the Customer Care Team in the event that other users report breaches of contract. What is more, LOVOO users can voluntarily verify themselves or are requested to do so by our Customer Care Team in justified cases (e.g. doubts about identity, suspicion of spam). If verification is successful, the profile is marked as “verified” and this is visible to other LOVOO users. You can find more information on verification here. Where required, users are requested to identify themselves via our service provider IDnow. More information on this is available here. (The legal basis is the legitimate interest of LOVOO and LOVOO users that the LOVOO service is not misused for acts of third parties that are in breach of contract and/or unlawful. We also have a legitimate interest in protecting our own systems to secure LOVOO’s IT and ultimately to protect the personal data of LOVOO’s users).
  • Also for data security purposes (in particular availability in accordance with the obligations under Article 5 (1) (f) and Article 32 of the GDPR or Article 8 of the nFADP). (Legal basis is LOVOO’s legitimate interest in ensuring data security and LOVOO members that the LOVOO service is not abused for contractual and / or illegal acts of third parties. In doing so, we also fulfill our legal obligation in the area of data security to ensure system security and the detection and tracking of unauthorized access attempts or access).
  • For personalized offers (e.g., automated price determination). In principle, we do not use fully automated decision-making pursuant to Article 22 of the GDPR or Article 21 of the nFADP. Instead, we only process your data with partial automation with the aim of being able to provide you with suitable product offers. The following data is used for this purpose: Country, registration device (app or website/iOS or Android). (The legal basis is the fulfillment of the contractual relationship and our legitimate interest in addressing our users in a targeted and individual manner.)
  • For the protection and defense of our rights and the fulfillment of legal obligations. (The legal basis is our legitimate interest in asserting and defending our rights.)
  • For the operation of our website as well as for the provision of telemedia services expressly requested by the users (legal basis is § 25 para. 2 no. 2 TTDSG)
  • For the purposes of self-advertising / direct marketing through promotional emails and/or push messages, (user) surveys and individualized guides (exclusively PE Digital GmbH products). (The legal basis is PE Digital GmbH’s legitimate interest in direct marketing for its own products, as well as Section 7 (3) of the German Act against Unfair Competition (UWG). In some cases, the legal basis is also your consent.)
  • For compliance with statutory retention obligations and other legal or statutory obligations and provisions (for example with regard to tax audits, official or court orders to provide information and other orders). (The legal basis is the fulfillment of our legal obligations.)
  • For other communication purposes related to requests. (The legal basis may be a pre-contractual legal relationship or a legal obligation.)
  • We occasionally use your data for A/B testing purposes. We use this A/B testing to analyze user behavior on our website and the LOVOO app. We show you modified content with a profile allocation on our website or the LOVOO app. This enables us to make our offering on our website and the LOVOO app even more attractive and user-friendly. Allocation criteria will be deleted immediately following the analysis to improve LOVOO’s offering. The legal basis is the legitimate interest. Our legitimate interest here is improving the user-friendliness and attractiveness of our website and LOVOO app.
  • If applicable, for archiving purposes in the public interest, for scientific or historical research purposes or for statistical purposes pursuant to Article 89 (1) (the legal basis in these cases is Article 9 (2) (j) of the GDPR or the first sentence of Article 6 (1) (e) of the GDPR in conjunction with Article 6 (2) of the GDPR)

Information on processing purposes and the legal basis of the processing of personal data using cookies and other tracking technologies when LOVOO is used is available in our Cookie and Tracking Policy.

Legal Basis for the Processing of Personal Data

  • To the extent that we obtain consent from the data subject for personal data processing operations, the legal basis is Article 6 (1) (a) of the GDPR and the General Data Protection Regulation as incorporated into UK law by Section 3 of the United Kingdom’s European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (collectively referred to as the “GDPR”) or Article 31 (1) of the new Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (nFADP).
  • If we process special categories of data pursuant to Article 9 Paragraph 1 of the GDPR, Article 9 Paragraph 1 of the GDPR Paragraph 2 a) of the GDPR – your consent – and Article 9 Paragraph 2 a) e) of the GDPR will serve as the legal basis, provided that you have publicly disclosed your sexual orientation (e.g. in your profile text or in a live video).
  • In the case of personal data processing that is necessary for the fulfillment of the contractual relationship with LOVOO, the first sentence of Article 6 (1) (b) of the GDPR or Article 31 (2) (a) of the nFADP serves as the legal basis. This also applies to processing operations required to perform pre-contractual measures.
  • In the case of personal data processing to fulfill a legal obligation, the first sentence of Article 6 (1) (c) of the GDPR or Article 31 (1) of the nFADP serves as the legal basis.
  • If processing is necessary to safeguard one of LOVOO’s legitimate interests, or a legitimate interest of a third party, such as its users, and if the data subject’s interests, fundamental rights and fundamental freedoms do not take precedence over the former interest, the first sentence of Article 6 (1) (f) of the GDPR or Article 31 (1) of the nFADP serves as the legal basis for processing.
  • If we store information in your terminal equipment or access such information that is already stored in your terminal equipment, Section 25 (1) TTDSG serves as the legal basis.
  • Insofar as the storage of information in your terminal equipment or the access to information already stored in your terminal equipment is absolutely necessary, Section 25 (2) No. 2 TTDSG serves as the legal basis.
  • Further processing has Article 6 (1) of GDPR and Article 31 (1) of the nFADP as legal basis depending on processing constellation.
  • In the case of personal data processing that is necessary for self-promotion (free use and subscriptions), in addition to the first sentence of Article 6 (1) (f) of the GDPR, Section 7 (3) of the German Act against Unfair Competition (UWG) also serves as the legal basis, or in addition to Article 31 (1) of the nFADP, Article 3 (1) (o) also serves as the legal basis.
  • In the case of potential processing for archiving purposes in the public interest, for scientific or historical research purposes or for statistical purposes pursuant to Article 89 (1), Article 9 (2) (j) of the GDPR or the first sentence of Article 6 (1) (e) of the GDPR in conjunction with Article 6 (2) of the GDPR or Article 31(2) (e) of the nFADP serves as the legal basis.

If the legal basis is your consent, you are entitled to revoke your consent at any time without this affecting the lawfulness of the processing performed on the basis of the consent up to the time of revocation. If the legal basis is the legitimate interest, you are also entitled in principle to object to the processing of personal data pertaining to you at any time for reasons resulting from your particular situation. Article 21 of the GDPR applies in this respect. Article 21 of the GDPR applies in this respect.

FORWARDING OF DATA TO THIRD PARTIES; SERVICE PROVIDERS

As a rule, LOVOO will only disclose your personal data to third parties if this is required to fulfill a contract, if we or the third party have a legitimate interest in disclosing the data, if you have provided your consent, or if this is required to fulfill a legal obligation. To the extent that personal data is transferred to third parties on the basis of a legitimate interest, we explain our legitimate interest in this Privacy Policy.

The following personal data may also be transferred to third parties:

  • to service providers, provided that the data is required to execute a data processing agreement with us;
  • if applicable, to providers of market tracking technologies and analysis tools (more information is available in our Cookie and Tracking Policy);
  • if we are required to do so by law or by enforceable official or court order in individual cases;
  • in relation to legal disputes (with courts or our lawyers), debt collection cases or economic or operational audits (with economic/operational auditors);
  • to the competent investigative authorities with regard to possible criminal acts;
  • in the event of sale of the business (with respect to the acquirer).

If data may be transferred to other third parties on a regular basis, this will be explained in this Privacy Policy or in our Cookie and Tracking Policy. In the event of a transfer based on consent, the explanation may also be provided when consent is obtained.

Service Providers

LOVOO reserves the right to appoint service providers to collect or process personal data. LOVOO only sends service providers the personal data they need for their specific activity. LOVOO only sends service providers the personal data they need for their specific activity.

If service providers are not identified by name in this Privacy Policy or in our Cookie and Tracking Policy, LOVOO uses service providers to send emails and push notifications to LOVOO users. Service providers also provide LOVOO with server capacity. If LOVOO users make in-app purchases on LOVOO, buy “credits” or take out subscriptions, they do so using external payment providers. PE Digital GmbH does not process any payment data when a purchase is made. Depending on the payment method you select during the ordering process, we forward the data collected for the processing of payments (e.g. bank details or credit card data) to the bank responsible for the payment or to payment service providers contracted by us.

In some cases, payment service providers also collect this data themselves under their own responsibility. For instance, this is the case when you make in-app purchases using an app store operator. In this respect, the Privacy Policy of the respective payment service provider or app store operator will apply.

Service providers are generally contracted as processors who may only process the personal data of users of this online service in accordance with LOVOO’s instructions.

At LOVOO, only persons who are required and necessary for the fulfillment of their tasks receive the personal data.

Forwarding of Data to Non-EEA Countries

Your personal data may also be disclosed to third parties (jointly or severally with us) or processors located in non-EU/EEA countries. In this case, we ensure before the transfer that the recipient has an adequate level of data protection (e.g. based on an adequacy decision of the European Commission for the country in question pursuant to Article 45 of the GDPR or the agreement of “standard contractual clauses” of the European Union with the recipient pursuant to Article 46 of the GDPR using additional technical and organizational protective measures). Also see Article 16 (f) of the nFADP regarding the disclosure of personal data abroad.

If necessary, we also conclude a corresponding “UK addendum” with our contractual partners in accordance with the requirements set out by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and a corresponding “CH addendum” in accordance with the requirements set out by the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC).

You can request that we provide you with an overview of the specific recipients (both companies within the Group and all processors) in third countries and a copy of the specifically agreed regulations (EU standard contractual clauses, if applicable, including the UK addendum or CH addendum, if relevant) to ensure the adequate level of data protection. To do this, please refer to the information in the Contact section.

HOW DO WE PROTECT YOUR DATA?

LOVOO adopts various security measures, such as state-of-the-art encryption and authentication tools, to protect the security, integrity, and availability of its users’ personal data. These measures are specified below:

  • Strict criteria for the right to access your data
  • Secure transmission using TLS encryption
  • Storage of confidential data in encrypted format,
  • Firewall protection of IT systems to protect against unauthorized access,
  • Permanent monitoring of access to IT systems to identify and prevent misuse of personal data

LOVOO also contracts service providers from the USA in this context. These service providers are specified below:

Max Mind, Inc.

LOVOO uses the geo-localization service provided by MaxMind, Inc.For this purpose, LOVOO stores a database locally/offline and checks IP addresses of the accessing end device against the geo-database for IT security reasons. There is no exchange of data with MaxMind.

More information on MaxMind is available here.

Cloudflare, Inc

We use a content delivery network (CDN) to secure this website and optimize loading times (SSL certificate). This CDN is a service provided by Cloudflare, Inc., 101 Townsend St, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA. Registration and login requests are passed through Cloudflare’s server and consolidated into statistics that cannot be disabled.

We have concluded a data processing agreement with Cloudfare on the basis of EU standard contractual clauses of the EU Commission dated June 4, 2021, with the application of additional technical and organizational protection measures.

Information on the data collected by Cloudfare is available here.

reCaptcha

We use the reCaptcha service provided by Google to help us identify whether the user is a human or an automated bot. This service helps to protect our website and app from bot attacks, misuse, and spam. Information (including your IP address) is transmitted to Google and processed there for this purpose.

We have concluded a data processing agreement with Google Ireland Limited.

Information on data collected by Google reCaptcha is available here.

Stripe, Inc.

We use cookies or a host provided by Stripe Inc., 510 Townsend Street, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA on our website to combat fraud.

Due to a third country transfer, we have concluded standard contractual clauses with this provider.

More information on privacy is provided by Stripe here.

DURATION OF STORAGE; RETENTION REQUIREMENTS

We store your data for as long as this is required to provide our online offering (and the associated services) or we have a legitimate interest in continued storage. In all other cases, we delete your personal data with the exception of data that we are required to keep for longer in order to comply with contractual or statutory (e.g. fiscal or commercial) retention periods (e.g. invoices).

We block data that is subject to a retention period until the period expires.

The personal data of LOVOO users who have taken out a subscription with LOVOO is generally stored for the duration of the contractual relationship. If you do not ask us to erase your data after your subscription expires, your LOVOO user account will still exist.

LOVOO automatically erases the personal data of LOVOO users who do not have LOVOO Premium, LOVOO Credits or LOVOO Diamonds and who are inactive for 24 months.

As soon as you revoke your consent or assert your right of revocation, we will delete the data immediately. You can delete your profile or account on LOVOO at any time in your account on the website or on the LOVOO app. Alternatively, you can contact our Customer Care Team and request the erasure of your data. In such a case, all your data is deleted, unless statutory retention requirements or another reason (e.g. defense or enforcement of claims, evidence reasons, incidents of misuse, billing purposes, another legitimate interest) requires the further storage or processing of your data.

Please note that uninstalling the LOVOO app from your device does not delete the data in your profile.

LOVOO stores log files for up to 90 days, after which they are deleted. Log files for which further retention is required for evidence purposes are exempt from deletion until the relevant incident has been definitively clarified and may be passed on to investigating authorities in individual cases.

LOVOO stores the data required for the purpose of fulfillment or proof during the respective limitation period in connection with the assertion of data subject rights.

Shared content, e.g. content that is sent via chat messages (attachments) and the chat messages themselves: Until the user deletes the account.

ARE YOU REQUIRED TO PROVIDE US WITH PERSONAL DATA?

You are not legally or statutorily required to provide us with your personal data. However, the use of certain services of our online offering may require the provision of personal data, e.g. registration or participation in a competition. If this is the case, we will inform you about this separately (e.g. in the form of a separate Privacy Policy for any competition). Mandatory information is usually marked with an asterisk (*). If you do not wish to provide us with the necessary data, you will not be able to use these services.

OVERVIEW OF DATA SUBJECT RIGHTS

How can you assert your rights?

Please refer to the information in the Contact section to assert your rights and enable us to clearly identify you when you assert your rights.

You can also use the settings options in your LOVOO profile to rectify the data you provided during registration or to object to advertising. There are a few exceptions to this, including a new change of date of birth, revocation of the processing of the sexual orientation information, and a change of gender, which can only be changed with the help of the Customer Care Team.

Please note that your data will usually only be blocked if there are retention requirements that prevent deletion.

Right to Information and Right to Rectification

You have the right to request information from LOVOO as to whether we process personal data pertaining to you. You also have the right to information about this personal data and details on the category of data that is stored, the purpose of processing, any recipients, the storage period, and the data subject rights to which you are entitled. If your data is incorrect or incomplete, you can request that your data be rectified or completed. If we have disclosed your information to third parties, we will inform them of the rectification where this is a legal requirement.

If you would like to assert a right to information, please refer to the details provided in the Contact section.

Your right to erasure

Provided that the legal requirements are met, you may demand that we immediately erase your personal data. This is particularly the case where

  • your personal data is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected;
  • the legal basis for the processing was exclusively your consent and you have revoked this;
  • you have objected to the processing for commercial purposes (“objection to advertising”);
  • you have objected to processing in accordance with the legal basis of balancing interests on personal grounds and we cannot demonstrate that there are overriding legitimate grounds for processing;
  • your personal data has been unlawfully processed; or
  • your personal data must be erased in order to comply with legal requirements.

Please note that your right to erasure is subject to restrictions.

We have the right not to comply with such a request if we process the personal data for any of the following reasons:

  • For exercising the right of freedom of expression and information.
  • For compliance with a legal obligation.
  • For the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of an official authority.
  • For archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes.
  • For the establishment or defense of legal claims.

You may also erase the data in your profile yourself. To do this, log in to your profile on the LOVOO platform and erase your profile under Settings – My Account – “Delete account.” Alternatively, you can contact our Customer Care Team and request the erasure of your data. Please refer to the information in the Contact. Please note that your data will initially only be blocked if there are retention requirements that prevent erasure.

Your Right to Restriction of Processing

Provided that the legal requirements are met, you may demand that we restrict processing. This is particularly the case where

  • you dispute the accuracy of your personal data, and then for as long as we have had the opportunity to verify the accuracy;
  • the processing is not lawful and you request restriction of use instead of erasure (see the previous section for this);
  • the processing is not lawful and you request restriction of use instead of erasure (see the previous section for this);
  • you have raised an objection on personal grounds, and then for as long as it takes to determine whether your interests prevail.

Alternatively, you can use the settings options in your profile to rectify the data you provided during registration or to object to advertising. Some of the data collected about you can only be modified with the help of the Customer Care Team.

Your Right to Data Portability

You have the right to receive personal data, which you provide to us to fulfill a contract or on the basis of consent, in a portable format. In this case, you may also request that we transfer this data directly to a third party, provided that this is technically feasible.

Your Right to Revoke Consent

If you have granted us consent to process your data, you may revoke this consent at any time with future effect. The lawfulness of the processing of your data until the time of revocation remains unaffected by this.

You have provided us with data regarding your sexual orientation (gender and gender you are interested in). You may revoke this consent at any time with future effect. The lawfulness of the processing of your data until the time of revocation remains unaffected by this. From the time you object to the processing of your sexual orientation data, matches can no longer be made unless you consent again to the processing of your sexual orientation data, and LOVOO will no longer be able to provide its services as described in our General Terms and Conditions as a result of your objection. To revoke your consent to the processing of your gender preference information, please email our Customer Care Team at support@lovoo.com with “Objection to use sexual orientation data” in the subject line.

Your Right to Object to Direct Marketing

You may also object to the processing of your personal data for advertising purposes (“objection to advertising”) at any time, provided that the data processing is conducted on the basis of legitimate interest. Please note that there may be an overlap between your revocation and the use of your data in the context of an ongoing campaign for organizational reasons.

Alternatively, you can use the settings options in your profile to rectify the data you provided during registration or to object to advertising.

Your Right to Object on Personal Grounds

You have the right to object to data processing by us for reasons related to your particular situation, provided that it is done on the legal basis of legitimate interest. In compliance with legislation, we will then stop processing your data unless we can prove that there are compelling legitimate grounds to continue processing your data that override your rights.

Right to Lodge a Complaint With the Responsible Regulatory Authority

You have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection authority. You may contact the data protection authority responsible for your place of residence, your federal state, or the data protection authority responsible for us.

This is:

Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, The Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, email: mailbox@datenschutz.hamburg.de.

If you are resident or habitually residing in the UK, you may also contact the competent data protection supervisory authority in the UK:

The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, phone: +44 (0) 303 123 1113, email: casework@ico.org.uk

If you are domiciled or habitually resident in Switzerland, you can also contact the competent Swiss data protection supervisory authority:

Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC). Please get in touch at: https://www.edoeb.admin.ch/edoeb/de/home/deredoeb/kontakt/kontaktformular_datenschutz.html

Social Media

The LOVOO domain contains links to PE Digital GmbH’s accounts on the social networks Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and Google+. Once the embedded graphic has been clicked on, the user is redirected to the page of the respective provider of Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+, which means that only then is user information transferred to the respective provider. In this case, the user’s consent will be the legal basis for data processing pursuant to Article 6 Paragraph 1 Clause 1 a) of the GDPR.

If the user is logged in to his/her user profile in the respective social network, an association with the visit to LOVOO is made after the button is activated.

If the user does not want the social networks to collect data about the LOVOO domain, he/she should log out of them prior to visiting the LOVOO domain. However, if you activate the relevant button by clicking on it, cookie(s) with an identifier will still be set each time you visit LOVOO. As a result, this function may be used to collect data and create a profile that may be attributed to an individual person. If the user does not want this, he/she can deactivate the respective link within the LOVOO domain in one click. The user can also adjust his/her browser settings so that the acceptance of cookies is generally excluded; however, please note that in this case the functionality of LOVOO may be limited.

Information on the handling of personal data when these websites are used is available in the respective privacy policies of the providers.

COOKIES AND OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES

Information on cookies and other tracking technologies that are used on our website and our app is available in our Cookie and Tracking Policy. If personal data is processed in relation to tracking-based processes, you will also find more detailed information on the purposes of such processing. Information on how you can object to such processing is also available in our Cookie and Tracking Policy.

APPENDIX: TECHNOLOGICAL INFORMATION

Technological Information on the Android Operating System:

• Settings > Google > Display and “Reset Advertising ID” there and/or “Disable Personalized Advertising”

• Information on location settings: https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/6179507?hl=de and https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/3467281 and, in general, https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3118621?hl=de

Technological Information on the iOS (Apple) Operating System:

• Settings > Privacy > Advertising and “Reset Ad ID” there and/or “No Ad Tracking”

• Information on privacy and location data is also available at: https://support.apple.com/dede/HT203033