Welcome to Tea Desk ("we", "our", or "us"), a digital news and lifestyle publication based in Nairobi, Kenya, operating at teadesk.co.ke.

Your privacy matters to us. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website, and it applies to all visitors regardless of location. We process personal data in accordance with the Kenya Data Protection Act, 2019 (DPA 2019) and, where applicable, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

2.1 Personal Information

Information you voluntarily provide to us, such as:

• Name
• Email address
• Contact details, when submitted via our contact form or comments
• Any message content you send us

2.2 Automatically Collected Data

Information collected automatically as you browse:

• IP address
• Browser type and version
• Device and operating system information
• Pages visited, time on page, and referring URL
• Cookies and similar tracking technologies

We do not knowingly collect sensitive personal data such as health records, financial account numbers, or national ID numbers.

Tea Desk uses cookies to enhance your browsing experience, remember your preferences, and analyze website performance.

We use Google AdSense and Google Analytics. Google and its partners may use advertising cookies (including the DoubleClick cookie) to:

• Show relevant, personalized ads based on your visits to this and other sites
• Measure ad effectiveness and prevent the same ad from showing too often
• Analyze traffic patterns to improve site performance

Users in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland are asked for explicit consent before personalized ads are displayed, in compliance with Google's EU User Consent Policy.

You can manage your cookie preferences at any time using the cookie banner on this site, or by adjusting your browser settings. For more on how Google uses data from sites that use its services, see Google's Privacy & Terms.

• Operate, maintain, and improve website functionality and content
• Personalize your experience and the advertising you see
• Respond to inquiries, messages, and comments
• Analyze traffic and ad performance to improve our publication
• Detect, prevent, and address fraud, abuse, or security issues
• Comply with applicable legal obligations

We do not use your data for automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects on you.

Under the Kenya Data Protection Act 2019, we rely on the following lawful bases for processing your data:

We do not sell or trade your personal information. We may share limited data with:

• Google and advertising partners — for ad delivery and measurement, governed by Google's Privacy Policy
• Service providers — hosting, email delivery, and other infrastructure supporting website operations
• Authorities — when legally required, such as by a court order or the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner

Under the Kenya Data Protection Act 2019, you have the right to:

• Request access to the personal data we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
• Request deletion of your personal data where there is no lawful reason to retain it
• Withdraw consent at any time, including for cookies and personalized advertising
• Object to processing based on legitimate interests, including direct marketing
• Lodge a complaint with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) if you believe we have breached your rights

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at info@teadesk.co.ke. We aim to respond within 21 days, as required by the DPA 2019.

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose it was collected:

• Contact form messages — retained for up to 12 months to handle follow-ups, then deleted
• Comments — retained indefinitely while the related article is published, removed within 30 days of a deletion request
• Server logs (IP addresses) — retained for up to 90 days for security purposes
• Analytics data — retained for up to 26 months (Google Analytics default)
• Cookie consent records — retained for 12 months

Tea Desk may contain links to external websites that are not operated by us. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of these third-party sites. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of every site you visit.

Tea Desk is a general-audience publication intended for readers aged 18 and above, in line with Kenyan data protection standards for independent consent. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 18.

If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us at info@teadesk.co.ke and we will take steps to delete it promptly.

We implement reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including HTTPS encryption, hashed password storage, and restricted access controls. No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure; in the unlikely event of a data breach affecting your rights, we will notify you and the ODPC as required by law.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. Any changes will be posted on this page along with an updated "Last updated" date. Continued use of Tea Desk after an update constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy, please reach out: