Privacy policy

1. Introduction

1.1. As the responsible party we are aware how important your privacy is. We make proper efforts to ensure that the use of your personal information complies with the law and is legitimate, with our primary goal in mind, namely improving our services and your user experience on our https://stories.showmax.com/ (hereinafter referred to as the “Website”).

1.2. MultiChoice Africa Holdings B.V., a company established under the laws of Netherlands, with its registered office at Taurusavenue 105, 2132 LS Hoofddorp, Netherlands (Registration Number: 817885821) shall be the responsible party with regards to your personal data (hereinafter referred to as the “Responsible Party”).

2. What personal information do we collect?

2.1. The categories of personal information may include:

2.1.1. Logs: We may collect certain information about your activities connected with gaining access to the Website and its use, mainly in the form of server query logs that can include, in particular, information about an IP address and the time and the way the Website is used.

2.1.2. Cookies: We may also store certain information collected with the help of cookies, web beacons, advertiser identifiers and other technologies, including advertising data. For detailed information about cookies please consult the section “Cookies” herein.

2.1.3. Device and Browser Information: When you access the Website, we can also collect information, mainly through cookies, regarding the device and the browser, such as the type of the device you use to access the Website, its model and settings, operational system, type of browser and language.

2.1.4. Location Information: When you use the Website, we may use various technologies to determine your actual location, such as geographical data from your device (which is usually based on the GPS or IP location).

2.1.5. Contact Details: When you access the Website, we may collect contact details from you such as your name, email address, and your message inserted via chat.

2.1.6. Other Personal Information: We may request and collect other personal information from you when you use the Website.

3. How do we collect your personal information?

3.1. We collect your personal information, namely actively from you, passively from your device when you use our site, passively from social networking sites, and passively from companies in the MultiChoice Group of companies (our “affiliates”) and third party service providers.

3.2. You have the possibility of withdrawing your consent from personal data collection and processing.

4. What is the purpose of the processing?

4.1. We process information in the scope necessary for us to ensure you can use the Website. The purpose of processing is to provide access to the Website, as outlined in the Terms and Conditions.

4.2. We also process information for the purposes of research, analysis, development, administration, maintenance, technical support and website security, which represent our legitimate interest for data processing.

4.3. Also in connection with cookie collection and the use of other similar technologies, personal information is processed for the purposes of marketing services of the Responsible Party, including advertising tailored to the needs and preferences of individuals or groups, e.g. online advertising.

4.4. An additional purpose of processing may be that of direct marketing.

5. Who are the recipients of personal data?

5.1. Your personal information can be disclosed to the following categories of recipients:

5.1.1. affiliated companies of the Responsible Party, especially if it is necessary for the ongoing Website maintenance and accessibility;

5.1.2. trusted service providers who improve our proposition and provide services for you, and who act on our instruction, including hosting providers, platform development providers and analytical services providers;

5.1.3. marketing service providers supporting us in the promotion of the Responsible Party’s services, including marketing agencies, marketing service providers in social media;

5.1.4. third parties, including government agencies, courts and bodies of a similar nature, if this is required in order to ensure compliance with the applicable provisions of the law, to enforce or investigate potential violations of the rules and regulations of the service provision, for protection of our rights, assets and to ensure security of the Responsible Party and of our clients, employees and other third parties.

5.2. Some data recipients referred to in section 4.1 may be located outside of South Africa (hereinafter referred to as a “Third Country”).

5.3. Where personal data are transferred to a Third Country, the Responsible Party shall make sure that the recipient of the personal information is subject to law, binding corporate rules, or a bingin agreement which provides an adequate level of protection, based on the legal grounds of Section 72 of the Protection of Personal Information Act.

6. What are your rights?

6.1. At any point while we are in possession of or processing your personal information, you, the data subject, have the following rights listed below.

6.2. Right of access – you have the right to request a copy of the personal information that we hold about you. Access to this information may be subject to an administrative fee if your request is manifestly unfounded, excessive or repetitive.

6.3. Right of accuracy – you have a right to insist that we correct data that we hold about you that is inaccurate or incomplete.

6.4. Right to be forgotten – in certain circumstances you can ask for the data we hold about you to be erased from our records.

6.5. Right to restriction of processing – where certain conditions apply you have a right to restrict the processing of your data.

6.6. Right of portability – you have the right to have the data we hold about you transferred to another organisation or provided to you in a machine-readable format.

6.7. Right to object – you have the right to object or remove your consent for certain types of processing such as direct marketing.

6.8. Right to object to automated processing – you have the right to object to automated processing, including automated profiling unless such profiling is necessary to conclude a contract or the performance required by a contract between us and you – and we apply suitable measures to safeguard your personal information.

6.9. Right to complain – you have the right to complain if you have cause to be concerned about the way we capture, treat or process your personal information.

7. How long is the information stored?

7.1. We process your personal information for the period that the information is necessary for the purposes for which we can or have to process it, though not after the statute of limitation for claims expires.

8. Security

8.1. Security and integrity of your personal data is our highest priority. Therefore, we apply appropriate technical and organisational measures in order to ensure an appropriate level of security of information, using recognised technological standards to prevent unauthorised access to personal data, their disclosure, protection against improper use, loss, damage or destruction.

9. Cookies

9.1. Our online platform and mobile app use cookies. Insofar as those cookies are not strictly necessary for the provision of our online platform, mobile app and services, we will ask you to consent to our use of cookies when you first visit our online platform or install and open our mobile app.

9.2. A cookie is a file containing an identifier (a string of letters and numbers) that is sent by a web server to a web browser and is stored by the browser. The identifier is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server.

9.3. Cookies may be either “persistent” cookies or “session” cookies: a persistent cookie will be stored by a web browser and will remain valid until its set expiry date, unless deleted by the user before the expiry date; a session cookie, on the other hand, will expire at the end of the user session, when the web browser is closed.

9.4. Cookies do not typically contain any information that personally identifies a user, but personal information that we store about you may be linked to the information stored in and obtained from cookies.

9.5. We use cookies for the following purposes:

  • Authentication – we use cookies to identify you when you visit our online platform and as you navigate our online platform;
  • Status – we use cookies to help us to determine if you are logged into our online platform;
  • Personalisation – we use cookies to store information about your preferences and to personalise our online platform for you;
  • Advertising – we use cookies to help us to display advertisements that will be relevant to you; and
  • Analysis – we use cookies to help us to analyse the use and performance of our online platform and services.
  • Accuracy – we use cookies to help us ensure our records are complete and up to date.

9.6. The information which we may passively collect from your device may include your identifying information, contact details, device and device event information, site activity information, log information, telephony log information, location information, unique application numbers (see paragraph 9 above) and any other information which you permit us, from time to time, to passively collect from your device. The names of these cookies change from time to time and sometimes from session to session. If you have a query about a specific cookie, please contact us with the name and value of the cookie so that we can identify its purpose.

9.7. Our service providers use cookies and those cookies may be stored on your computer when you visit our online platform. The names of these cookies change from time to time and sometimes from session to session. If you have a query about a specific cookie, please contact us with the name and value of the cookie so that we can identify its purpose. Any questions? Please contact enquiries@multichoice.co.za

9.8. Most browsers allow you to refuse to accept cookies and to delete cookies. The methods for doing so vary from browser to browser, and from version to version. You can however obtain up-to-date information about blocking and deleting cookies via these links:

https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?hl=en (Chrome)

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences (Firefox)

https://www.opera.com/help/tutorials/security/cookies/ (Opera)

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies (Internet Explorer)

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH21411 (Safari)

https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10-microsoft-edge-and-privacy (Edge)

If you block cookies for this online platform, you may not be able to use all the features available on the site.

10. Final Provisions

10.1. We can from time to time amend this Privacy Policy. In such an event we shall publish the amended version of the Privacy Policy on the Website.

10.2. Should you have any queries regarding personal data processing by the Responsible Party please contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@showmax.com or our Information Officer in South Africa at privacy.dstvstreaming@multichoice.co.za.

10.3 You have the right to lodge a complaint to the Information Regulator of SA in the case that you feel that your privacy rights have been violated.

The contact details for the Information Regulator (South Africa) are:

General inquiries : inforeg@justice.gov.za , SALU Building, 316 Thabo Sehume Street, PRETORIA Tel: 012 406 4818 Fax: 086 500 3351 More information can be found at https://www.justice.gov.za/inforeg/.

Complaints: POPIAComplaints.IR@justice.gov.za & PAIAComplaints.IR@justice.gov.za

10.4. This Privacy Policy has an effective date of 1.11.2021.