Privacy Policy
Last updated:
Sateek Bharat (sateekbharat.in) respects your privacy. This policy explains what information is collected when you read our website, react to or comment on a story, or contact us; how it is used; who it is shared with; how long it is kept; and what rights you have over it.
Who we are
This website is run by Sateek Bharat ("we", "us"), which decides how personal data is used and is responsible for it. This policy is made under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011. It also follows the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025, which are coming into force in phases; most of their obligations apply from May 2027.
Information we collect
When you read the website
- You do not need an account, registration or login to read our stories. You sign in with Google only to write a comment or a reply, or to react to or report someone's comment (see below).
- Our pages set no advertising or tracking cookies, and we do not use any outside advertising or analytics company. The only cookie we set for readers is a sign-in cookie, and only after you sign in to comment.
- Counting page views: to learn which stories and pages are read, we count, ourselves, each time a page or story is opened. We record only: which page or story was opened (with its headline, section and tags), the day, the kind of site or app you came from (such as Google, WhatsApp or "direct"), the type of device (phone, tablet or computer, worked out from your browser's user-agent), the hour of the day, and your country, plus your state if you are in India (as estimated by Cloudflare). On a story, we also count how long it was on your screen while you were reading it (scrolling, tapping or watching a video in it), and how far down the story you got. These are kept only as daily totals. We do not store your IP address, your name or anything else that could identify you. Visits by our own team and by automated bots are not counted.
- The website runs on Cloudflare's network. To deliver pages to you, protect the site from attacks and fix technical faults, Cloudflare processes technical data such as your IP address, browser and device details, the page requested and the time.
- Your IP address is also used for a moment to limit how many requests one internet connection can make (for example, page-view counts, reactions or comments per minute), so that no one can flood the site. We do not store it for this.
When you contact us
When you email us, we receive your name, your email address and anything you include in the message, such as a phone number, documents or photos. This includes information you send with a complaint, a correction or a data request.
Our editorial team's accounts
For team members who sign in to the newsroom, we keep their username and name; a securely hashed password (never the password itself); the email address and mobile number used for two-step verification, and their authenticator and passkey details, all encrypted; their active sessions, with IP address, country and browser, so they can see and end them; and a security log of logins and changes (time, IP address, country and browser). If anyone tries to sign in to the newsroom, the username they typed and the same technical details are logged, so that we can detect attacks.
Reactions and comments
Like, Dislike and Love reactions
You do not need to sign in to react to a story (Likes, Dislikes and Love, under each story). Your browser keeps a random ID number in its local storage, so that each browser is counted once per story, and sends it when reactions are loaded or changed. Our server stores only a scrambled form of this number (a hash made with a secret key), your reaction and when you gave it. None of this reveals your name, email address or IP address. Tapping your reaction again removes it, and clearing your browser data erases the ID.
Comments, with Sign in with Google
- To write a comment or a reply, or to react to (Like, Dislike or Love) or report someone's comment, you sign in with "Sign in with Google". Google's sign-in script loads only when you open the sign-in box: by tapping "What do you think?" under View comments, or by tapping Like, Reply or Report on a comment while signed out.
- When you sign in, Google sends us your name, email address, profile photo and Google account ID. We check Google's signature and then keep only your Google account ID and name. We do not store your email address or your photo.
- Your name is shown publicly with each of your comments. We keep your comments and replies and when you posted them, your reaction to each comment you reacted to, and which comments you reported and why. Other readers never see what you reported.
- We also keep basic account details: when you first and last signed in, and any moderation status, such as a suspension. When our team reviews a comment or an account, they may add an internal note to it.
- A cookie (__Host-sb_reader) keeps you signed in for 30 days from when you sign in. It is used only for signing in, never for tracking or advertising. Signing out ends your sign-in on every device.
- This information is used only to show comments, to stop one person reacting to or reporting the same comment more than once, to review reported comments, to stop accounts that break the rules, and to meet our legal obligations. When a comment is reported, its opening text and the reason are emailed to our editor so that it can be reviewed quickly.
- You can delete any of your comments yourself. To have your account and all your comments deleted, write to privacy@sateekbharat.in. The IT Rules, 2021 (rule 3(1)(h)) require us to keep your registration details (your Google account ID and name) for 180 days after your account is deleted; they are erased after that.
- A comment that you delete, or that our team removes, is hidden from everyone at once. Its text is kept for 180 days, only for lawful requests from investigating agencies or complaints of misuse (IT Rules, 2021, rule 3(1)(g)), and is then erased automatically.
Cookies and browser storage
These are the only cookies we set, and the only things our pages store in your browser. Browser storage stays on your device; you can clear it at any time in your browser's settings.
| Name | Type | What it is for | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
| __Host-sb_reader | Cookie | Keeps you signed in to comment. Set only after you sign in with Google. | 30 days from sign-in, or until you sign out |
| __Host-sb_session | Cookie | Keeps a team member signed in to the newsroom. Never set for readers. | Until the browser is closed, or 7 days if "keep me signed in" is chosen |
| sb-seen | Session storage | Which pages and stories this tab has already counted, so a reload is not counted twice. | Until you close the tab |
| sb-day | Local storage | The date of your last visit, so that one device counts as one reader per day. We receive only two yes/no signals: "first visit today" and "has visited on an earlier day". | Until you clear it |
| sb-device | Local storage | The random ID for reactions (see above). | Until you clear it |
| sb-breaking, sateek-newsroom | Local storage, IndexedDB | Used by our newsroom tool in this trial version of the website. On readers' devices they hold nothing about you. | Until you clear them |
Cloudflare may also set strictly necessary security cookies that tell people apart from bots. Embedded posts and videos from other platforms may set their own cookies (see below).
How we use information
- to reply to and resolve your message, complaint, correction or data request;
- to run the website, keep it secure and fix technical problems;
- to understand which stories and topics readers find useful (totals only);
- to keep newsroom accounts secure;
- to show readers' reactions and comments, and to review reported comments;
- to meet legal obligations, such as keeping a record of complaints and publishing the monthly report under the IT Rules, 2021. The report shows only numbers, never anyone's identity.
We use your comment account and comments on the basis of the consent you give when you sign in. You can withdraw it at any time by signing out and asking us to delete your account; this does not affect what was done before. Information you send us by email is used for the purpose you sent it for, and team members' information is used for their work with us.
We never sell your information, and we do not use it to show you advertisements or to build a profile of you.
Content from other companies
- Google Fonts: the website's fonts load from Google's servers, so your IP address and browser details reach Google.
- Social media and video: when you open a story with an embedded YouTube (youtube-nocookie.com), X (Twitter), Instagram, Threads or Facebook post or video, that content loads directly from the platform. These platforms may set cookies or collect data under their own privacy policies.
- Sign in with Google: Google's sign-in button and window load from Google's servers and are covered by Google's Privacy Policy. No Google sign-in script loads until you open the sign-in box.
- Sample images: in this trial version of the website, some sample images load from picsum.photos.
- External links: once you follow a link to another website, that website's privacy policy applies.
Who we share information with
- Service providers that work for us. Each gets only what its job needs:
- Cloudflare: hosting, security, our database, and error logs, which are kept for a few days.
- Zoho: our email (Zoho Mail), and Zoho ZeptoMail, which sends team members their verification codes and login alerts, and sends our editor reported comments for review.
- Google: Sign in with Google for readers; and Firebase, with reCAPTCHA, to send verification codes by SMS to team members. The team member's phone number goes to Google, and the temporary Firebase record is deleted once the code is checked.
- Have I Been Pwned: when a team member sets a new password, we check that it has not appeared in known data leaks. Only the first 5 characters of the password's SHA-1 hash are sent, never the password.
- Legal requirements: when the law, a court, or a valid order of a competent government agency requires it.
- Grievance appeals: if a complaint is appealed under the IT Rules, 2021, the necessary details go to the self-regulating body or to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Where and how long it is kept
Our service providers' servers may be outside India. Any such transfer follows Indian law. Information is deleted once it is no longer needed, unless the law requires us to keep it.
| Information | How long we keep it |
|---|---|
| Page-view totals | As long as they are useful. They contain nothing that identifies you. |
| Your reaction to a story | Until you remove it |
| Your comment account (Google account ID and name), and the comments you liked or reported | Until you ask us to delete your account, then 180 days (IT Rules, rule 3(1)(h)) |
| Your comments | Until you or our team delete them |
| Text of a deleted or removed comment | 180 days, then erased automatically |
| Emails, complaints and data requests | While the matter is open, and after that only as long as our legal obligations require |
| Team members' accounts | While the person is on our team. A sign-in lasts at most 7 days. |
| Newsroom security log | 1 year |
| Cloudflare error logs | A few days |
Security
We take reasonable security measures: the website is served over HTTPS; team members' email addresses, phone numbers and authenticator details are encrypted; passwords are stored only as salted hashes; two-step verification is required to sign in to the newsroom; and access to data is limited to authorised people. Still, no system on the internet is completely free of risk. If a data breach happens, we will inform the people affected and the relevant authorities as the law requires.
Your rights
You can ask us to:
- give you a summary of the personal data we hold about you and how it is used;
- correct or update data that is inaccurate or incomplete;
- erase data we no longer need, unless the law requires us to keep it;
- stop using data you consented to (withdrawing consent does not affect what was done before);
- let a person you nominate exercise your rights if you die or become unable to;
- resolve your grievance.
To make a request, write to privacy@sateekbharat.in from the email address you used to contact us, so that we can confirm it is you. For a comment account, include the name shown on your comments and a link to one of them; we may ask you to confirm the request while signed in. We may ask for more information to verify your identity. We respond to every request within one month.
Children
Our website is for a general audience, and commenting is only for people aged 18 or over. We do not knowingly collect personal data of children under 18, track them or show them targeted advertising. If a child has sent us personal data, a parent or guardian can ask us to erase it by writing to privacy@sateekbharat.in.
Grievance Officer
Deepak Airy, Grievance Officer (personal data)
Email: privacy@sateekbharat.in
We resolve grievances about personal data within one month. If you are not satisfied with our response, once the relevant provisions of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 come into force (scheduled for May 2027), you can complain to the Data Protection Board of India.
Changes and language
We may update this policy from time to time, for example if we start showing advertisements, use an outside analytics tool or launch a newsletter. Before any such change takes effect, we will update this page and the "Last updated" date at the top.
The sign-in box for comments shows a short summary of this policy in English and in Hindi. If you would like this full policy in Hindi, write to privacy@sateekbharat.in.