Privacy Policy
1. Who processes your data
1.1. Your personal data is processed by the Selm team (the “Team”, “we”), the owner of Selm: the Telegram Mini App, the bot @Selm_bot and the website selm.dilami.pro (the “Service”).
1.2. For any data question, message the support chat in the Service. Details about the owner are published on the Contact page.
1.3. This Policy works together with the Terms of Use and uses the same terms.
2. What data we process
2.1. We process the following data:
| Data | What exactly | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Telegram profile | ID, first and last name, username, profile photo link, interface language, permission for the bot to message you | Telegram, when you sign in and when you send /start |
| Selm profile | Display name, bio, language, notification settings, 18+ visibility, a record that you confirmed your age | You |
| Content | Stories, chapters and their earlier versions, outlines, titles, comments, works you added, reports, support messages | You |
| Activity | Stars, bookmarks, follows, reading progress, views of stories and works (the first one each day), days you used the Service, notifications, challenge entries | The Service, as you use it |
| Payments | Pro purchases and subscription, amounts in Stars, statuses, Telegram payment IDs, spark and earnings balances, payout requests and the payout details you provide | Telegram and you |
| AI usage | Kind of action, model, amount of text in tokens, cost, time and outcome — without the text of the request or the answer | The Service |
| Where you came from | The tag of the link you first opened Selm with: a friend’s invite, a story link, our website and the source that led you to it | The link you used |
| Technical data | IP address — only in rate-limit records for images; server logs kept by the hosting provider | Your device |
2.2. We do not receive your phone number, contacts, Telegram chats, precise location or payment card details.
2.3. On selm.dilami.pro we only count anonymous statistics without cookies. See Cookies and On-Device Storage.
3. Why we process data
3.1. Purposes, data and legal bases:
| Purpose | Data | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Create your account and give you access | Telegram profile, Selm profile | Performance of the Terms |
| Store and show your stories, run the feed, notifications, reading and audio | Content, activity | Performance of the Terms |
| Run the AI co-author and audio | Story text and your instructions (sent to Anthropic or OpenAI), technical request data | Performance of the Terms |
| Payments, subscriptions, payouts to authors, bookkeeping | Payments | Performance of a contract, bookkeeping requirements |
| Moderation, handling reports, preventing abuse | Content, activity, technical data | Legitimate interest in keeping the Service safe |
| Support | Messages, profile, information about payments and stories | Performance of the Terms |
| Messages from the bot: notifications, reminders, news | Telegram profile, permission to message you | Your consent in Telegram; switch off in settings |
| Statistics, improving the Service, measuring how people find us | Aggregated activity data, where you came from | Legitimate interest in developing the Service |
| Complying with the law | Data as needed | Legal obligations |
4. Who else receives data
4.1. We share data only with providers the Service can’t work without, and only what they need:
- Telegram — sign-in, bot messages, sending audio to your chat, Telegram Stars payments and subscriptions.
- Anthropic (USA) — text for the AI co-author when Claude models write it: story parameters and text, your instructions, the canon brief. Your name, username, photo and Telegram ID are not sent; requests carry only a pseudonymous identifier (a hash) to help prevent abuse.
- OpenAI (USA) — chapter audio, and text for the AI co-author when OpenAI models write it: the same data as above, on the same terms. Which provider writes the text depends on the Service’s current settings. See How AI Works in Selm.
- Vercel (USA; the servers we use are in Frankfurt, Germany) — hosting the Service and the website, processing requests, storing audio files, generating share cards.
- Neon (a PostgreSQL database on AWS in Frankfurt, Germany) — storing the Service’s data.
- Adsgram — only if ads are enabled: receives your Telegram ID to credit sparks for watching an ad. Ads are currently off, and no data is sent to Adsgram.
- Catalog sources (TVmaze, Wikidata, Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, Shikimori, AniList, Open Library) only receive catalog search queries from our server, without your identifiers.
4.2. Other users see your public profile: name, photo, username, bio, level and rating, published stories, comments, followers and following. An author you support sees your name and the amount. Drafts and “only me” stories are not visible to other users.
4.3. Public authorities receive data only when legally required.
4.4. We don’t sell personal data and don’t share it with ad networks for targeting.
5. Where data is stored
5.1. The database, audio files and the server side of the Service are hosted in the European Union (Frankfurt, Germany).
5.2. Some data is processed outside the EU: in the USA (Anthropic, OpenAI, Vercel) and in Telegram’s infrastructure. Transfers happen under these providers’ terms, which commit them to protect the data.
6. How long we keep data
6.1. Retention periods:
| Data | Period |
|---|---|
| Account, profile and content | While the account exists |
| Deleted stories and comments | Hidden at once, text erased after 30 days |
| Earlier chapter versions | At most 30 per chapter; versions older than 90 days are deleted except the last five |
| Read notifications | 90 days |
| Delivery records of reminders and broadcasts | 120 days |
| IP addresses in rate-limit records | Up to 2 days |
| Story audio files | While the story exists; erased together with its text after the story is deleted |
| Payments, payouts, spark history, AI cost records | Kept for bookkeeping and disputes; anonymised after account deletion |
| Aggregated website statistics | No time limit: it is not personal data |
7. Deleting your account
7.1. You can delete your account in the Service: Settings → Delete account.
7.2. What happens:
- your profile is anonymised at once: your name, username, photo, bio and the link to your Telegram ID are removed;
- your stars, bookmarks, follows, reading progress, notifications, support chats and reports are deleted;
- your stories and comments are immediately hidden from everyone, and their text and audio files are permanently erased within 30 days;
- payment and payout records are kept in anonymised form for bookkeeping;
- remixes of your stories made by other users stay with their authors.
7.3. If you open Selm again, a new empty account is created.
8. Your rights
8.1. You can:
- find out what data we process about you and get a copy;
- correct inaccurate data (some in settings; Telegram data refreshes when you sign in);
- delete your account and data (section 7);
- object to or restrict processing;
- withdraw consent to bot messages — in notification settings or by blocking the bot;
- complain to the data protection authority of your country.
8.2. Send requests to the support chat. We reply within 30 days. To confirm it’s you, write from the same Telegram account.
9. Children
9.1. The Service is for people aged 16 and over. If we learn that an account belongs to a child under that age, we will delete it.
10. How we protect data
10.1. Connections to the Service are encrypted (HTTPS). Telegram sign-in data is verified by its digital signature. Data is stored with cloud providers under access control.
10.2. The Service’s administrators have access to data. They may view any story, including drafts, only for moderation, handling reports and support.
11. Cookies and on-device storage
11.1. The Service and the website use no advertising or analytics cookies. The technical data stored in your browser is described in Cookies and On-Device Storage.
12. Changes to this Policy
12.1. We may change this Policy. The new version is published on this page with its date. We announce significant changes in advance, in the Service or by a message from the bot.