Who operates this service
Simon Paul Evans operates Dark Beacon Studios as a UK sole trader. Unnatural Selection is an owned trading brand. The Flaxen Tyranny is an owned book project. Contact hello@darkbeaconstudios.co.uk about this service or its privacy practices. Our postal contact details and general website/store notice are available in the main privacy policy.
What this notice covers
Social Connections is a private account-management integration for the owned Dark Beacon Studios, Unnatural Selection and The Flaxen Tyranny accounts. It connects Facebook Pages, professional Instagram accounts and YouTube channels through their official APIs. TikTok Business access is still awaiting approval. The older Darwin Perception TikTok connection is separate; its existing read-only commitments continue to apply.
Information we access
- Account and channel identifiers, profile details, permission records and authorisation credentials.
- Owned posts, photographs, videos, playlists, caption tracks, comments, replies and platform-supplied analytics where authorised.
- Conversation identifiers, incoming message contents and event details supplied for the connected brands, including identifiers or names present in notifications.
- Prepared outgoing text, requested content changes, exact-target review context, approval records and delivery outcomes.
- Media files selected by the operator, including photographs, videos, timed caption files and any embedded metadata; file names, byte counts, fingerprints, upload progress and processing outcomes.
- Delivery times, processing outcomes, opaque duplicate-detection identifiers and limited diagnostic evidence needed to operate the connections.
Data comes from the connected platforms and from people interacting with those brand accounts. Access depends on the account’s permissions and the platform’s available features.
Purposes and processing basis
We use this information to identify the correct brand account, view its content and performance, handle relevant customer interactions, refresh account information and keep the integration reliable and secure. The basis for account administration and relevant customer correspondence is our legitimate interest in operating the owned brands, subject to individuals’ rights. Contractual or legal obligations may also apply to particular customer records. Optional marketing requires a separate appropriate basis. Authorising an account connection does not authorise unrelated marketing to everyone who contacts that account.
Actions and permissions
The integration reads account information, receives notifications and prepares private action drafts. Supported outgoing actions can include posts, comment replies, customer-message replies, moderation, media uploads and content-management changes. Staging a file stores an encrypted local copy and does not upload it to a social platform. A selected photograph, video, thumbnail or caption track is sent directly over HTTPS to the connected platform only for the individually approved action. Unpublished or private uploads are still processed by that platform. Publishing an uploaded Instagram Reel requires a separate approved action. Each action requires explicit operator approval for its exact brand account, content, target and timing before delivery. Permissions alone do not activate an action. The private workspace shows the current delivery switch and implemented capabilities. Autonomous marketing model runners are not enabled.
Standard customer-message replies require a verified incoming message and an open platform messaging window. We do not use a connection grant as permission for unsolicited messages or unrelated marketing. New processing, recipients or capabilities are assessed and disclosed before activation.
Access, providers and security
The private workspace is available to the authorised operator and expressly authorised support access. Credentials, the notification inbox, private action plans, staged media chunks and saved upload-session details are encrypted for the operating Windows account. Local file previews require the private owner session and are not exposed through a public media address. Internet API connections use HTTPS; the owner workspace is restricted to the local computer.
Meta, Google/YouTube and, if approved, TikTok process information under their own terms and notices. During the present setup, ngrok relays sign-in callbacks and notifications; the request information needed for delivery can include account identifiers, temporary callback codes and notification contents. Other necessary business providers are described in the main privacy policy. Providers may process information outside the UK. Their privacy notices describe their processing locations and transfer arrangements. Contact us for information about the safeguards applicable to this integration; new processing arrangements are assessed before activation.
We do not sell social-platform data or use it for surveillance, credit decisions or personalised advertising. Marketing model runners are not connected to this deployment. The service does not automatically send social API message or caption bodies to a generative AI provider or use them to train general AI models. New processing or recipients require an updated assessment and notice before activation.
How long local copies remain
- Successfully processed notification payloads are removed when processing completes.
- Unprocessed notification payloads expire 30 days after their first receipt, including items awaiting retry or operator attention. A duplicate or retry does not restart that period while its receipt remains.
- Cleanup runs at startup and approximately every 30 seconds while the notification service is running, independently of platform refreshes. If the computer or service is off at the deadline, overdue copies are removed on its next start before reuse. Expired payloads cannot be replayed.
- A minimal delivery receipt, without message/comment content, is retained for up to a further 30 days after payload removal for troubleshooting and duplicate prevention. Non-content aggregate delivery counters may remain for operational reporting.
- Private action text, provider snapshots and platform identifiers in action plans are removed within 30 days of that plan’s creation, or earlier through local account deletion. Unsubmitted plans expire; a retry does not restart the original plan’s retention period. Minimal records containing no platform account/content identifier or message text can remain to record an outcome and prevent duplicate submission with an old request key.
- Staged media files, including incomplete uploads, are removed within 30 days of initial staging or earlier through local account deletion. Upload attempts do not restart that deadline. File bytes are briefly decrypted in memory for verification, private preview and approved direct transfer; no plaintext temporary media file is created by this upload pipeline.
- Connection records, authorisation credentials and separately saved reports are outside this notification-payload rule. They are retained only while needed for the authorised connection, troubleshooting or requested reporting, subject to platform rules and valid deletion requests.
Removing a local copy does not delete the original post, video, comment or message from the platform. Stored YouTube API information must be refreshed or deleted within the periods required by YouTube, including the applicable 30-day refresh/delete rule. User-requested deletion of stored YouTube API information is completed as soon as possible and within seven calendar days. Revocation through this service is followed by deletion within seven calendar days; revocation through Google’s permissions page is followed by deletion as soon as possible and within 30 calendar days. These shorter requirements take priority over the general notification retention rule.
Connection recovery copies
Where enabled, we keep encrypted recovery copies of connected-account credentials and configuration, together with minimal local action references, outcomes and timestamps. These copies exclude message and comment bodies, draft content, provider request snapshots, platform object identifiers from action receipts, staged media, upload sessions and unfinished sign-ins. Recovery copies expire seven days after creation. Expired copies cannot be restored; physical cleanup runs through the configured maintenance process, including overdue cleanup when the computer or backup location next becomes available. Recovery does not restart original retention periods or revive an old outgoing approval. Whole-connection deletion also retires and removes registered recovery copies containing that connection; additional devices, historical copies and restored working directories require the operator’s separate review before confirming completion.
YouTube and Google information
This integration uses YouTube API Services. See the YouTube Terms of Service and Google Privacy Policy. Our use and transfer of Google API information follows the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use restrictions. Account holders can revoke access through Google’s security permissions page, in addition to asking us to delete stored information.
Your choices and requests
You can withdraw a connection through the platform’s account permissions and contact us to request deletion of local data. Our deletion instructions explain the operator-handled process. Depending on the circumstances, you may also request access, correction, restriction or portability, withdraw consent, or object to relevant processing and direct marketing. We may request proportionate information to establish that a request relates to your data; do not email passwords, access tokens or verification codes.
Contact us first with questions or complaints. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. We do not make solely automated decisions about individuals with legal or similarly significant effects through this deployment. It is not directed at children. Changes to processing or this notice will be communicated as required before new uses begin.