Privacy

What we store, and why

For a Creator:

• Your Telegram user id, display name and username, so you can sign in without a password.
• The bank code and account number you enter, and the account name Paystack resolves for them, so your money settles to the right place. Paystack holds the subaccount; we keep its reference.
• Each Gate you create: its name, description, price, Period, Grace, and the Telegram group it opens.

For a Member:

• The email address you enter when you pay, so we can send you your claim link and a receipt.
• Your Telegram user id, display name and username once you claim your access, so the bot can let you in, remind you, and remove you when a Subscription lapses.
• Each payment's Paystack reference, amount, date and outcome, and each Subscription's Period and state, so we know who is entitled to be inside a Gate.

What we do not store

• Phone numbers. Gateman never asks for one and does not read yours from Telegram.
• Card numbers, bank passwords or PINs. Paystack handles the payment page and keeps those.
• Group messages. The bot does not read what is said inside a Gate.

Who can see what

• A Creator sees, for their own Gates, each Member's Telegram name, Subscription state and next expiry, each payment's amount and date, and the email of a payment that has not yet been claimed.
• A Member sees only their own payment and claim status.
• Gateman's operators can see everything above to run the service and to help with support.

Who we share it with

Only the services Gateman is built on, and only what each one needs to do its job:

• Paystack receives the email and amount for each payment and the Creator's bank details, under Paystack's own privacy policy.
• Telegram is where the bot talks to Members and manages the group; Telegram already knows who you are.
• Our email provider receives the Member's email address to deliver the claim link.
• Our hosting and database providers store the data described above on our behalf.

We do not sell data and we do not use it for advertising.

How long we keep it

Payment records are kept for as long as the Creator's account exists and for the period after that which financial and tax rules require. A Member's Telegram identity and email are kept while any Subscription for them exists and for a short time after the last one lapses, so a lapsed Member who renews is recognised. Closed Gates keep their Member history so a Creator can answer questions about past payments.

Your choices

• A Member can ask a Creator to remove them from a Gate at any time; the Creator can revoke access from the dashboard.
• Anyone can ask us to show, correct or delete what we hold about them, subject to the records we must keep for payments. A contact address for these requests is published here before launch.

Security

Data is stored with providers that encrypt it at rest and in transit. Sign-in is by Telegram only, with no passwords for us to lose. Webhooks from Paystack and Telegram are verified before anything is acted on. No system is perfectly secure, and if a breach affects you we will tell you.

Changes

The date at the top tells you which version you are reading. Material changes are announced on the dashboard before they take effect. The terms of service cover the rest of the relationship.