Data Deletion Policy

You can request deletion of your account and personal data stored by TamizhConnect at any time. This page explains your options, what is removed, what is retained, and how long the process takes. Deletion requests are handled in accordance with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. For more on your data rights, see our Privacy Policy.

Quick summary

Use the in-app deletion flow or email support. We verify identity before processing and aim to complete the deletion within 30 days.

Fastest route: Settings → Privacy → Delete my data
Alternatively: email support@tamizhconnect.com from the account address
Export any data you want to keep before requesting deletion

1. Your right to erasure

Under UK GDPR Article 17, you have the right to request deletion of your personal data in specific circumstances — for example, when the data is no longer necessary for the purposes it was collected, when you withdraw consent, or when we cannot show a legal ground to continue processing.

We may retain limited information where required by law, for defence of legal claims, for fraud prevention, or where necessary to preserve the security and integrity of the Services. Those categories are listed in Section 5.

2. How to request deletion

From the app: open Settings → Privacy → Delete my data and follow the prompts. This is the fastest route and includes built-in safeguards against accidental deletion.
By email: send a request from the email address on your account to support@tamizhconnect.com with the subject "Data Deletion Request". Include your full name, the email address on your account, and any additional identifiers (Stripe customer id starting with cus_, invoice numbers, or a link to a Contribution you have submitted) that help us locate your data.

3. Identity verification

To protect your account from unauthorised deletion, we verify your identity before processing a request. Verification may use one or more of:

A one-time code sent to the email address on your account;
A code sent to a phone number verified on your account;
Confirmation of account-specific detail only you would know;
Signing in through your existing credentials.

4. What we delete

On a verified deletion request, we remove the following categories of personal data associated with your account:

Account profile information (name, email, phone, avatar, preferences);
Uploaded media, documents, and personal notes;
App activity logs, session records, and device identifiers;
Family-tree entries you created and the relationships between them;
Ancestor pins and any descendant-matching / Connections requests you have sent or received;
Personal research notes and family history annotations;
Communication preferences and marketing opt-ins;
Voter record links and related verification data;
Payment records held on our servers (Stripe / PaymentSense retain their own copies subject to their retention policies).

5. What we may retain, and why

We may retain a limited amount of information after account deletion, for the following reasons:

Legal and audit records: a hash of your account identifier and timestamps of the deletion request, for up to 24 months, as evidence of compliance with your request;
Payment and tax records: transaction records required by UK / EU tax and accounting law, typically for 6 years;
Support correspondence: where necessary to defend legal claims, retained for up to 6 years (UK Limitation Act default);
Fraud and security records: minimal indicators (for example, an IP-address hash tied to a suspicious sign-in attempt) retained where necessary to protect the Services.

6. Contributor Portal submissions

If you have submitted records, photographs, transcriptions, or oral histories via the Contributor Portal, those Contributions are, by default, treated as intended to remain in the archive for the benefit of other users.

You can:

Request removal of specific Contributions ahead of, or as part of, account deletion. Approved removals happen within the same 30-day window;
Request that your Contributions remain in the archive but that attribution to your personal account be anonymised. In this case the record stays available; only the attribution line changes.

Where a Contribution has been integrated into a larger public dataset or downstream integration, removal may take longer than 30 days because of the cascading updates required.

7. Deletion timeline

We aim to complete deletion within 30 days of receiving your verified request. The typical process is:

Verification of identity and authorisation;
Temporary suspension of account access (24-hour cooling-off window);
Final confirmation before proceeding;
Removal of personal data from active systems;
Removal from backups during the next scheduled backup cycle;
Confirmation email once deletion is complete.

Complex requests (for example, requiring cascading changes across Contributions, connections, or third-party sub-processors) may take up to 90 days. Where a delay is expected, we notify you and give an updated estimate.

8. Impact of deletion

After deletion, you lose access to all Services and content associated with your TamizhConnect account, including:

Your family tree and its relationships;
Uploaded photos, documents, and research notes;
Any accepted or pending Connections;
Voter or archive record links you had set up;
Premium feature access and active subscriptions.

Deletion is permanent. Export any data you want to keep before confirming (see Section 10).

9. Safeguards against accidental deletion

Multiple confirmation prompts during the in-app flow;
24-hour review period during which you can cancel;
Email confirmations at each stage of the process;
Final email confirmation once deletion is complete.

10. Export before you delete

Before requesting deletion, use the in-app export tools to save copies of your family tree, research notes, and any Contributions you want to keep. Export is available from Settings → Privacy → Data Export or via the equivalent Contributor Portal export where applicable.

11. Appeals and complaints

If you believe your deletion request has not been handled correctly, contact us at support@tamizhconnect.com. If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk), or with your local supervisory authority in the EU.

Business Entity: Tharviyan Limited (Company No. 12127865)
Registered Office: 5 Brayford Square, London, E1 0SG, United Kingdom
Data protection contact: privacy@tamizhconnect.com
General contact: support@tamizhconnect.com | +44 1689 810072