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Privacy Policy

Last updated: 24 August 2026

1. Introduction

Nn Media ("we", "us", "our"), trading as AutoAds.ie, is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal data when you use our website at autoads.ie (the "Website") and our mobile applications.

We are the data controller for the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) 2016/679 and the Data Protection Acts 1988-2018 (as amended). Our contact details are:

2. What Personal Data We Collect

We may collect and process the following categories of personal data:

2.1 Information You Provide

• Account registration: Name, email address, password (encrypted)
• Profile information: Display name, profile photo, bio, county/location
• Advertisement details: Vehicle information, images, pricing, location, description
• Contact information: Phone number (when provided for ads), WhatsApp number
• Messages: Content of messages sent between Users
• Dealer applications: Business name, business address, company registration number, website URL
• Boost Max orders: Information needed to process optional paid Boost Max promotions, including selected ad, budget, delivery option, target area, payment status, receipt details, and campaign results such as reported views and clicks
• Support enquiries: Information you provide when contacting us

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

• Device information: Browser type, operating system, device model, screen resolution
• Usage data: Pages visited, features used, time spent on the Website
• IP address: Used for security, fraud prevention, and approximate location
• Location data: Approximate location (county level) when you grant permission, used to show nearby car listings
• Camera and photos: Images captured or selected when creating car advertisements
• Push notification tokens: Device identifiers for delivering push notifications via Firebase Cloud Messaging
• Cookies and similar technologies: See Section 8 below

2.3 Information from Third Parties

• Google Sign-In: If you choose to sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address, and profile picture from Google. We do not receive your Google password.

3. How We Use Your Personal Data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

• Providing our services: To create and manage your account, publish your advertisements, facilitate messaging between Users, and operate the swap feature
• Communication: To send you email verification, draft reminders, and service-related notifications
• Push notifications: To notify you of new messages, swap offers, and other activity related to your account
• Boost Max promotions: To process optional paid Boost Max orders, prepare and manage social media promotion for your selected advertisement, send payment and campaign status updates, and report campaign results
• Safety and security: To detect fraud, enforce our Terms & Conditions, and protect Users
• Content moderation: To review advertisements and images for compliance with our content standards
• Improvement: To analyse usage patterns and improve the Website and mobile applications
• Legal compliance: To comply with applicable laws and regulations

4. Legal Basis for Processing

Under the GDPR, we process your personal data on the following legal bases:

• Contract performance (Article 6(1)(b)): Processing necessary to provide our services to you, including account management, advertisement publication, and messaging
• Legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)): Processing necessary for our legitimate interests, including fraud prevention, Website security, service improvement, and analytics, provided these interests are not overridden by your rights
• Consent (Article 6(1)(a)): Where you have given specific consent, such as for push notifications, location access, and optional marketing communications
• Legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c)): Where processing is necessary to comply with a legal obligation

5. Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal data to third parties. We may share your personal data in the following circumstances:

• With other Users: Your display name, profile photo, bio, and location are visible to other Users. When you place an advertisement, the information in that advertisement is publicly visible. Your phone number is shown on ads only if you choose to display it.
• Service providers: We may share data with trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating the Website, including hosting providers (DigitalOcean), email services, Firebase (Google) for push notifications, payment providers such as Mollie, and advertising platforms such as Meta/Facebook/Instagram where needed to provide Boost Max. These providers are contractually bound to protect your data where required by law.
• Boost Max advertising: If you buy Boost Max, we may use your selected advertisement details, images, title, price, location, and campaign preferences to create, manage, and measure social media advertising campaigns. We do not store your full card details on AutoAds servers.
• Legal requirements: We may disclose your data if required by law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of AutoAds, our Users, or others.
• Business transfers: In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or part of our business, your personal data may be transferred as part of that transaction.

6. Data Retention

We retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected:

• Account data: Retained for as long as your account is active. If your account deletion request is completed, your data will be removed within 30 days, except where retention is required by law.
• Advertisements: Active advertisements are retained for as long as they are published. Deleted advertisements are removed from public view immediately and permanently deleted within 30 days.
• Messages: Messages are automatically deleted after 7 days.
• Notifications: Notifications are retained for a reasonable period and periodically purged.
• Payment and Boost Max records: Retained for as long as reasonably necessary for accounting, tax, legal, fraud prevention, support, dispute handling, and service reporting purposes.
• Usage logs: Retained for up to 12 months for security and analytical purposes.

7. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures include:

• Encryption of passwords using industry-standard hashing algorithms
• HTTPS encryption for all data transmitted between your device and our servers
• Secure server infrastructure with access controls and firewalls
• Regular security reviews and updates

While we strive to protect your data, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.

8. Cookies

AutoAds uses cookies and similar technologies to operate the Website. Cookies are small text files stored on your device.

8.1 Essential Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the Website to function and cannot be switched off. They include cookies for authentication (keeping you logged in) and security.

8.2 Functional Cookies

These cookies enable enhanced functionality such as remembering your preferences, filter settings, and draft advertisements stored locally on your device.

8.3 Advertising Cookies

We advertise AutoAds on Meta (Facebook and Instagram), TikTok, and Snapchat. With your consent, we use advertising cookies and similar technologies provided by those companies so that we can measure how many people who see one of our advertisements go on to use the Website, and so that our advertising budget is not wasted on advertisements that do not work.

• Meta Pixel and Meta Conversions API (Meta Platforms Ireland Limited)
• TikTok Pixel (TikTok Technology Limited)
• Snap Pixel (Snap B.V.)

These technologies record the pages you view on the Website, actions such as registering an account or contacting a seller, your IP address, and your browser and device type. Where you are signed in, your email address and telephone number may also be shared with Meta in an irreversible hashed form, so that Meta can match the activity to an existing profile without receiving the readable value. This information is used to measure and target advertising and may be combined by those companies with information they already hold about you. These companies may transfer this information outside the European Economic Area under Standard Contractual Clauses.

Legal basis: your consent (Article 6(1)(a) GDPR and Regulation 5(3) of S.I. No. 336/2011). None of these technologies are loaded, and no advertising identifier is stored on your device, unless and until you select "Accept" on our cookie banner.

8.4 Your Choices

When you first visit the Website you are asked whether we may use advertising cookies. Selecting "Reject" means only essential and functional cookies are used, and the Website remains fully usable. You can change your answer at any time, free of charge, under Profile → Cookie Settings in the app, or using the Cookie Settings link in the website footer.

Withdrawing your consent stops any further collection. It does not undo collection that already took place while your consent was in force. You can also control cookies through your browser settings, although disabling essential cookies may affect the functionality of the Website.

9. Your Rights Under GDPR

Under the GDPR, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Right of access (Article 15): You have the right to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to rectification (Article 16): You have the right to request correction of inaccurate personal data.
• Right to erasure (Article 17): You have the right to request deletion of your personal data ("right to be forgotten"), subject to certain exceptions.
• Right to restrict processing (Article 18): You have the right to request restriction of processing of your personal data in certain circumstances.
• Right to data portability (Article 20): You have the right to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.
• Right to object (Article 21): You have the right to object to processing of your personal data based on legitimate interests.
• Right to withdraw consent: Where processing is based on consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at info@autoads.ie. We will respond to your request within one month, as required by the GDPR.

10. Account Deletion Requests

Account deletion is handled by request rather than by a button in the app, so that we can confirm the request genuinely comes from the account holder before anything is erased.

To close your account, email info@autoads.ie from the email address registered to the account, asking us to delete it. If we cannot verify that the request comes from you, we may ask you one or more questions to confirm your identity before we act on it. This is free of charge, and we will confirm to you by email once it is done. When we process an account deletion request:

• Your profile, advertisements, and messages will be removed within 30 days
• Some data may be retained where required by law or for legitimate business purposes (e.g. payment and taxation records, or fraud prevention)
• Data that has been shared with other Users (e.g. messages already delivered) may not be retrievable

If you only want your advertisements taken down, you can delete them yourself at any time without closing your account.

11. Children's Privacy

The Website and mobile applications are not intended for use by anyone under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 18. If we become aware that we have collected personal data from a child under 18, we will take steps to delete that information.

12. International Data Transfers

Your personal data is primarily stored and processed on servers located within the European Economic Area (EEA). In the event that data is transferred outside the EEA (for example, via Firebase Cloud Messaging operated by Google), we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place in accordance with the GDPR, such as Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission.

13. Automated Image Scanning

When you upload images to advertisements, we may use automated content moderation technology to scan images for inappropriate content (such as nudity or explicit material). This scanning is performed client-side on your device before images are uploaded. We do not store or transmit image analysis data.

14. Third-Party Services

The Website and mobile applications may integrate with third-party services including:

• Google (Authentication, Firebase Cloud Messaging): For sign-in and push notifications
• WhatsApp: For optional direct communication with sellers
• Mollie: For processing optional paid Boost Max payments. Payment card details are handled by Mollie and are not stored directly by AutoAds.
• Meta/Facebook/Instagram: For preparing, delivering, and measuring Boost Max social media advertising campaigns where a User has purchased that optional service, and, with your consent, for measuring our own advertising as described in Section 8.3.
• TikTok and Snapchat: With your consent, for measuring our own advertising as described in Section 8.3.

These services have their own privacy policies, and we encourage you to review them. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of third-party services.

15. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated "Last updated" date. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically. Your continued use of the Website or mobile applications after any changes constitutes acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy.

16. Complaints

If you are not satisfied with our handling of your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Commission (DPC), Ireland's supervisory authority for data protection:

17. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your data protection rights, please contact us at: