This Privacy Policy describes how Optispect Media SIA ("we", "us", or "our"), the company behind Watch Ads (accessible at watchads.io and app.watchads.io), collects, uses, and protects your personal information when you use our service. By accessing or using Watch Ads, you agree to the practices described in this policy.
We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your data in an open and transparent manner. This policy has been drafted in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and applicable Latvian data protection law.
1. Who We Are
The data controller responsible for your personal information is:
Watch Ads is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) tool that allows users to monitor publicly available advertising data from the Meta Ad Library and receive automated email notifications about competitor ad activity.
2. Information We Collect
We collect the following categories of personal information:
Information you provide directly:
- Name and email address when you register for an account
- Billing information (processed securely by our payment processor; we do not store full card details)
- Meta Ad Library URLs you submit for monitoring
- Any communications you send to our support team
Information collected automatically:
- IP address and approximate geographic location
- Browser type, operating system, and device information
- Pages visited, features used, and time spent on the platform
- Referring URLs and session data
- Cookie identifiers and similar tracking data (see Section 7)
Information from third parties:
- Payment status and subscription data from our payment processor (Stripe)
- Publicly available advertising data retrieved from the Meta Ad Library on your behalf
3. How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect for the following purposes:
- Providing the service: Creating and managing your account, processing your subscription, and delivering the ad monitoring and alert features you have requested.
- Email notifications: Sending you daily digests, weekly recaps, and real-time alerts about the advertisers you track, in accordance with your notification preferences.
- Billing and payments: Processing subscription payments and managing your billing history.
- Customer support: Responding to your inquiries, troubleshooting issues, and improving our support processes.
- Service improvement: Analysing usage patterns to improve the platform's features, performance, and user experience.
- Legal compliance: Meeting our obligations under applicable law, including tax and accounting requirements.
- Security: Detecting, preventing, and responding to fraud, abuse, and security incidents.
We do not sell your personal data to third parties. We do not use your data for automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects.
4. Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)
For users in the European Economic Area (EEA), we rely on the following legal bases under Article 6 of the GDPR:
- Contract performance (Art. 6(1)(b)): Processing necessary to provide the Watch Ads service you have subscribed to, including account management, monitoring, and email delivery.
- Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)): Processing for fraud prevention, security, and service analytics, where our interests are not overridden by your rights.
- Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)): Processing required to comply with applicable laws, including financial record-keeping obligations.
- Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)): Where we rely on consent (e.g., optional marketing communications), you may withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.
5. Sharing Your Information
We share personal data only in the following limited circumstances:
- Service providers: We use trusted third-party providers to operate the platform, including cloud hosting, email delivery, and payment processing. These providers act as data processors and are contractually bound to protect your data and use it only as instructed by us. Key providers include Stripe (payments) and transactional email services.
- Legal requirements: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law, court order, or governmental authority, or if we believe disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of Optispect Media SIA, our users, or the public.
- Business transfers: In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or part of our business, your data may be transferred to the acquiring entity. We will notify you before your data is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
We do not share your personal data with advertisers, data brokers, or any third party for their own marketing purposes.
6. Data Retention
We retain your personal data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you with the service. Specifically:
- Account data is retained for the duration of your subscription and for up to 90 days after account deletion, to allow for account recovery and to fulfil any outstanding obligations.
- Billing records are retained for a minimum of 5 years to comply with Latvian accounting and tax law.
- Monitored ad data and creative archives are retained according to your plan's archive window (30, 90 days, or unlimited) and deleted upon account closure.
- Support correspondence is retained for up to 3 years.
You may request deletion of your personal data at any time (see Section 8). Where we are required by law to retain certain data, we will inform you of the applicable retention period.
7. Cookies and Tracking Technologies
We use cookies and similar technologies to operate and improve Watch Ads. Cookies are small text files stored on your device. We use the following types:
- Essential cookies: Required for authentication, session management, and core platform functionality. These cannot be disabled without affecting your ability to use the service.
- Analytics cookies: Used to understand how users interact with the platform so we can improve performance and usability. Data collected is aggregated and anonymised where possible.
- Preference cookies: Used to remember your settings and notification preferences.
You can control non-essential cookies through your browser settings. Disabling certain cookies may affect platform functionality. We do not use third-party advertising cookies or tracking pixels for retargeting purposes.
8. Your Rights
Under the GDPR and applicable Latvian law, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:
- Right of access: You may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
- Right to rectification: You may request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
- Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten"): You may request deletion of your personal data, subject to legal retention obligations.
- Right to restriction of processing: You may request that we limit how we use your data in certain circumstances.
- Right to data portability: You may request your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.
- Right to object: You may object to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing purposes.
- Right to withdraw consent: Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at [email protected]. We will respond within 30 days. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Data State Inspectorate of Latvia (Datu valsts inspekcija, www.dvi.gov.lv) if you believe your rights have been violated.
9. International Data Transfers
Optispect Media SIA is based in Latvia, within the European Economic Area (EEA). Some of our service providers may process data outside the EEA. Where this occurs, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) or equivalent mechanisms, to ensure your data receives the same level of protection as within the EEA.
10. Children's Privacy
Watch Ads is intended for use by individuals aged 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under the age of 18. If you believe we have inadvertently collected data from a minor, please contact us immediately at [email protected] and we will take prompt steps to delete such information.
11. Security
We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures include encrypted data transmission (HTTPS/TLS), access controls, and regular security reviews.
While we take reasonable precautions, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security, but we are committed to promptly notifying you and the relevant supervisory authority in the event of a data breach that poses a risk to your rights and freedoms, as required under GDPR Article 33.
12. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. When we make material changes, we will notify you by email (to the address associated with your account) and update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.
Your continued use of Watch Ads after any changes take effect constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.
13. Contact Us
If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:
We aim to respond to all privacy-related inquiries within 5 business days and to fulfil all data subject requests within 30 days as required by law.