Privacy Policy – Strathdon Media

Privacy Policy — Strathdon Manor Media

Last updated: July 2026 — Strathdon Manor Media (Pty) Ltd

Strathdon Manor Media (Pty) Ltd (“Strathdon Manor Media”, “we”, “us”, “our”) is committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information responsibly, in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (“POPIA”) and, where applicable to visitors from the European Union or United Kingdom, the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).

This policy explains what personal information we collect through this website and our services, why we collect it, how we use and protect it, and the rights you have over it.

1. Who We Are

Strathdon Manor Media provides social media management, marketing, and related communications services to companies within the Strathdon Group and to external clients, and manages the publishing operations of Strathdon Press on its behalf. Strathdon Manor Media also develops and sells software applications for the publishing industry under the Forge Suite label, marketed via strathdonforge.com.

This policy covers personal information collected via strathdonmedia.com, strathdonforge.com, and in the course of providing our services and software.

Our Information Officer, appointed in terms of POPIA, can be contacted at: privacy@strathdonmedia.com.

2. Information We Collect

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect:

Contact details: name, email address, phone number, job title, and employer, when you enquire about our services or engage us.
Billing and payment information, where you make a direct payment to us via this website — processed by our third-party payment processor (see section 6).
Order and licence confirmation details for Forge Suite purchases, forwarded to us by our authorised resellers of record, Paddle.com Market Limited (“Paddle”) and Lemon Squeezy, LLC (“Lemon Squeezy”) — typically your name, email address, and purchased product/plan, but not your full payment card details (see section 6).
Software licence and usage information: licence keys, activation and version data, and basic diagnostic or usage data from Forge Suite applications, where you install or use them.
Correspondence you send us, including enquiries, briefs, support requests, and feedback.
Technical and usage information collected automatically: IP address, browser type, device type, referring/exit pages, and click-stream data.
Information collected via cookies and similar technologies (see section 9).

3. Why We Collect It, and Our Legal Basis

We process your personal information for the following purposes, on the following legal bases under POPIA:

To respond to enquiries and provide our services — necessary for a contract with you, or to take steps at your request before entering into one.
To process payments for services purchased directly through this website — necessary for that contract.
To send you marketing communications — based on your consent, which you may withdraw at any time (see section 5).
To maintain the security and proper functioning of our website, and to improve our services — our legitimate interest, balanced against your rights.
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.

4. Information We Collect and Process on Behalf of Group Companies and Clients

As part of our role managing social media, marketing, and communications for other Strathdon Group companies and for external clients, we process personal information (such as customer or supporter contact details) on their behalf, under the instructions set out in our service agreement with each of them. In that capacity we act as an operator (processor) rather than the responsible party (controller), and that company’s own privacy policy — not this one — governs how that information is used. This policy covers only personal information we collect about you directly, in our own capacity, through this website and our own client relationships.

5. Marketing Communications

We will only send you direct marketing communications by email or SMS where you have given consent, or where you are an existing client and the communication concerns similar services to those you’ve previously engaged us for, in line with section 69 of POPIA. You can withdraw consent or unsubscribe at any time using the link in any marketing email, or by contacting us at the address in section 12. We will not sell or rent your personal information to third parties for their own marketing purposes.

6. Payment Processing

Where you make a payment to us directly through strathdonmedia.com — for example, a service deposit — your payment is processed by our third-party payment service provider. We do not store your full card details on our own systems.

Forge Suite purchases are handled differently: Paddle and Lemon Squeezy act as our authorised resellers of record for Forge Suite products, meaning they — not Strathdon Manor Media — are the seller for that transaction, and they collect and process your payment information directly, under their own privacy policies (available at paddle.com/legal/privacy and lemonsqueezy.com/privacy). We receive limited order and licence information back from them (your name, email address, and what you purchased) so that we can provision your licence and provide support. We do not receive or store your card details for Forge Suite purchases.

7. Sharing Your Information

We share personal information with:

Paddle and Lemon Squeezy, as our authorised resellers of record for Forge Suite purchases (see section 6).
Service providers who support our operations — hosting providers, email and marketing platforms, analytics providers, and payment processors — under contractual terms requiring them to protect your information and use it only for the purposes we specify.
Law enforcement or regulatory authorities, where required by law or a valid legal process.
A prospective buyer or successor, in the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or part of our business, subject to equivalent confidentiality protections.

We do not sell your personal information.

8. Cross-Border Transfers

Some of the service providers referred to in section 7 may store or process information outside South Africa. Paddle is based in the United Kingdom/Ireland and Lemon Squeezy in the United States; other service providers, such as cloud hosting or analytics platforms, may also be based in the European Union, United Kingdom, or United States. Where we transfer personal information across borders — or where our resellers do so on their own account as the seller of record — this is done only where the recipient is subject to laws or contractual obligations providing an adequate level of protection substantially similar to POPIA, or with your consent, in accordance with section 72 of POPIA.

9. Cookies and Similar Technologies

This website uses cookies and similar technologies to operate correctly, understand how visitors use the site, and, where relevant, to support marketing activity. We use the following categories:

Strictly necessary cookies — required for the website to function; these cannot be disabled.
Analytics cookies (e.g. Google Analytics) — help us understand how visitors use the site, on an aggregated basis.
Marketing and social media cookies (e.g. LinkedIn Insight Tag, Meta Pixel) — used where we run advertising campaigns or embed social content, and may be set by third parties.

You can control or disable cookies through your browser settings, and, where a cookie consent banner is presented on this site, through your choices there. Disabling non-essential cookies will not affect your ability to use the core functions of this website.

10. Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy, or as required by law (for example, financial and tax records are typically retained for five years under South African law). Enquiry and marketing data not converted into a client relationship is deleted or anonymised after a reasonable period, generally no more than 24 months of inactivity.

11. Your Rights

Under POPIA, you have the right to:

Be notified that we hold your personal information, and to access it.
Request correction or deletion of inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date, incomplete, or unlawfully obtained personal information.
Object to the processing of your personal information, including for direct marketing purposes.
Withdraw consent, where processing is based on consent, without affecting processing already carried out.
Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa if you believe we have not handled your information in accordance with POPIA (contact details in section 13).

If you are located in the European Union or United Kingdom, you have equivalent rights under the GDPR, including the right to data portability and to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.

12. Children’s Information

This website and our services are directed at businesses and adults, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. Where the processing of a child’s personal information is unavoidable (for example, incidentally, in event or campaign photography), we do so only with the consent of a competent person (such as a parent or guardian) and in accordance with POPIA’s specific protections for children’s information.

13. Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against loss, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure, including access controls, encryption in transit, and contractual safeguards with our service providers. No system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

14. Contact Us and the Information Regulator

To exercise any of your rights, or with any question about this policy, contact our Information Officer:

Email: privacy@strathdonmedia.com Postal address: PostNet Suite 157, Private Bag X5, Aston Manor, 1630, SOUTH AFRICA

We will respond to requests within a reasonable period, and in any event within the timeframes required by POPIA.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa:

Email: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za / complaints.IR@justice.gov.za Website: www.justice.gov.za/inforeg

15. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The “Last updated” date at the top shows when it was last revised. We encourage you to review it periodically.