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Effective 1 April 2026

Privacy Policy

How WeedScene collects, uses, and protects your personal data.

1. Who we are

WeedScene ("WeedScene", "we", "us", "our") is a technology platform operated by WeedScene Ltd, providing a global cannabis venue directory, legal compliance information, and venue management tools. Our website is weedscene.app and our application is available on iOS and Android.

For data protection purposes, WeedScene Ltd is the data controller. If you have questions about this policy or how we handle your data, contact us at [email protected].

2. What data we collect

2.1 Account information

When you register for a WeedScene account, we collect your email address, password (stored in hashed form), display name, date of birth, and country of residence. Venue owners additionally provide business name, venue address, country of operation, and licence documentation.

2.1a Age verification and country compliance

WeedScene operates across multiple jurisdictions with different minimum age requirements for cannabis use — ranging from 18 to 21 depending on the country. To comply with these local laws, we require all users to provide their date of birth and country during registration. This information is used solely to:

  • Verify that you meet the minimum age requirement for cannabis-related content in your country (18+ in most markets, 20+ in Thailand, 21+ in the United States).
  • Display the correct legal rules, age limits, and compliance information relevant to your jurisdiction.
  • Prevent access to the platform for users who do not meet the minimum age threshold — an age gate is applied at registration and enforced on your account.

Your date of birth is stored securely and is never shared with venues, other users, or third parties. It is used only for age verification purposes. Your country is used to personalise the legal compliance information shown to you and may be updated by you at any time in your account settings.

If we have reason to believe a user has provided a false date of birth to circumvent the age gate, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate the account immediately.

2.2 Location data

With your explicit permission, we access your device's GPS location to show nearby venues and to verify GPS check-ins. Location is used in real time and is not stored persistently on our servers beyond what is needed to record a check-in event. You can revoke location permission at any time in your device settings.

2.3 Check-ins and reviews

When you check in at a venue, we record the venue ID, timestamp, and your user ID. Reviews you submit are linked to a verified check-in. If you have enabled the "hide name" privacy setting, your review is published anonymously; otherwise your display name is shown.

2.4 Saved venues and preferences

We store your saved venues, notification preferences, and privacy settings so these persist across devices and app sessions.

2.5 Support tickets

When you contact support, we retain the content of your messages, the timestamp, and ticket status to allow us to respond and track resolution.

2.6 Usage and analytics

We collect anonymised usage data including screen views, feature interactions, and app performance metrics to improve the product. This data does not identify you individually.

2.7 Device information

We may collect device type, operating system version, and app version to diagnose technical issues and ensure compatibility.

3. How we use your data

  • To provide the core app functionality — venue discovery, check-ins, menus, events, and legal information.
  • To verify your identity and manage your account.
  • To enforce age verification and ensure access is restricted to users who meet the minimum age requirement in their country.
  • To display jurisdiction-appropriate legal compliance information based on your country.
  • To send transactional notifications such as support ticket replies, event reminders (if enabled), and legal compliance alerts (if enabled).
  • To allow venue owners to manage their listings, menus, compliance status, and analytics.
  • To improve the product through anonymised usage analytics.
  • To comply with our legal obligations and enforce our Terms and Conditions.

We do not use your data to serve third-party advertisements. WeedScene products are ad-free.

4. Legal basis for processing (UK & EU users)

For users in the United Kingdom and European Economic Area, we process your personal data on the following legal bases:

  • Contract performance — to provide the services you have signed up for.
  • Legal obligation — collection of date of birth and country is required to comply with local age restriction laws across our operating markets. We are legally obligated to prevent access to cannabis-related content by persons below the minimum age in their jurisdiction.
  • Legitimate interests — to improve our product, prevent fraud, and ensure platform security.
  • Consent — for location access and optional push notifications. You may withdraw consent at any time.

5. Data sharing

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

  • Firebase / Google — our database and authentication infrastructure (Google Firebase, EU data residency where possible). Google's privacy policy applies to their infrastructure.
  • Expo / EAS — push notification delivery through Expo's notification service.
  • Payment processor — for venue owner subscriptions, payment data is handled by our payment processor (Stripe). We do not store card details on our servers.
  • Legal requirements — we may disclose data if required by law, court order, or to protect the safety of users or the public.

6. Data retention

We retain your account data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we will delete your personal data within 30 days, except where we are required to retain it by law (for example, financial records for VAT purposes, retained for 7 years).

Check-in and review data is retained for 24 months from the date of creation, after which it is anonymised or deleted. Support ticket data is retained for 2 years after the ticket is closed.

7. Your rights

Depending on your location, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

  • Access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
  • Correction — ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
  • Deletion — request deletion of your personal data ("right to be forgotten").
  • Portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
  • Objection — object to certain types of processing, including marketing.
  • Restriction — ask us to limit how we process your data in certain circumstances.

To exercise any of these rights, email [email protected]. We will respond within 30 days.

8. Cookies

Our website (weedscene.app) uses essential cookies only — for session management and security. We do not use tracking or advertising cookies. Our mobile app does not use cookies; we use secure local storage for session persistence.

9. Children and age verification

WeedScene is not intended for users under 18 years of age (or under the applicable minimum age in their country — 20+ in Thailand, 21+ in the United States). We enforce an age gate at registration — all users must provide their date of birth and confirm they meet the minimum age requirement for their country before accessing the platform.

We do not knowingly collect data from minors. If we discover that a user has provided a false date of birth to bypass the age gate, we will immediately suspend the account and delete associated personal data. If you believe a minor has created an account, please contact us immediately at privacy@weedscene.app and we will investigate and delete the account promptly.

10. International transfers

WeedScene operates globally. Your data may be processed in countries outside your own, including the United States (via Google Firebase and Expo infrastructure). We take appropriate safeguards to ensure your data is protected in accordance with this policy and applicable law.

11. Security

We implement industry-standard security measures including encrypted data storage, HTTPS for all data in transit, Firebase Authentication for account security, and Firestore Security Rules to ensure users can only access their own data. Despite our best efforts, no system is completely secure. If you believe your account has been compromised, contact us immediately.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes via in-app notification or email. Continued use of WeedScene after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

13. Contact

Data controller: WeedScene Ltd
Email: [email protected]
General enquiries: [email protected]

If you are based in the UK and are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to