Privacy Policy

Last updated: 11/09/2026

Sofia Magazine Ltd ("Sofia," "we," "us," "our") is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains what personal data we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, and what rights you have over it. We've tried to keep this in plain English, but if anything's unclear, email us, and we'll explain it properly.

This policy applies to sofiamagazine.com (the "Site"), our free weekly emails, our contact form, and any account you create with us.

1. Who We Are

Sofia Magazine Ltd is a private limited company registered in England and Wales.

Registered address: 1 Pioden For, Barry, Wales, CF62 5DD. Contact: contact@sofiamagazine.co.uk

We are the "data controller" for the personal data described in this policy, meaning we decide how and why your data is used.

2. What Personal Data We Collect

We only collect what we actually need to run Sofia. Depending on how you use the Site, this may include:

  
      What
      When we collect it
    
      Name and email address
      When you sign up for free weekly articles, create an account, or fill in our contact form
    
      Account login details
      When you create an account with us
    
      Billing/payment information
      When you purchase a single issue or subscribe to The Exclusive (see Section 5 — we don't actually store your card details ourselves)
    
      Message content
      When you use our contact form
    
      Technical data (IP address, browser type, device type, pages visited)
      Automatically, when you browse the Site

We do not knowingly collect any special category data (e.g. health information) about you, except where you choose to share something in a message to us via our contact form. Please only share what you're comfortable with.

3. Why We Collect It, and Our Legal Basis

Under UK GDPR, we need a valid legal reason ("lawful basis") for every piece of data we process. Here's ours:

  
      Purpose
      What we do
      Lawful basis
    
      Sending your free weekly articles
      Email your two articles each week
      Consent (you can withdraw this anytime)
    
      Running your account
      Let you log in and access what you've purchased or subscribed to
      Contract (necessary to provide the service)
    
      Processing payments
      Handling your purchase of a single issue or an Exclusive subscription
      Contract
    
      Responding to your contact form message
      Reading and replying to what you send us
      Legitimate interest (responding to enquiries)
    
      Understanding how people use our Site
      Google Analytics and Google Search Console
      Consent, via our cookie banner
    
      Occasional marketing emails (if you opt in)
      Mailchimp, for anything beyond your regular free articles
      Consent
    
      Legal and accounting obligations
      Keeping records of transactions
      Legal obligation

4. Cookies and Analytics

We use, or plan to use, the following tools to understand how people use Sofia and to improve it:

Google Analytics: to see how visitors move through the Site (anonymised where possible)
Google Search Console: to understand how Sofia appears in search results
Mailchimp: to manage our free weekly article emails and any future newsletters

These tools may place cookies on your device. You'll see a cookie banner when you first visit the Site, and you can choose which categories of cookies to accept. Necessary cookies (the ones that make the Site work at all) can't be switched off, but analytics and marketing cookies are entirely optional.

You can change your cookie preferences at any time through your browser settings or, if available, a cookie preferences link in our site footer.

5. Payments

We use Squarespace Payments to process transactions for single-issue purchases and Exclusive subscriptions. When you pay, your card details go directly to Squarespace Payments and their payment processing partners. We never see or store your full card number ourselves.

Squarespace Payments has its own privacy practices covering how it handles your payment data, in addition to this policy.

6. Who We Share Your Data With

We don't sell your personal data, ever. We share it only with:

Squarespace: who host our website and process payments
Kit: who send our email content, if you're subscribed
Google (Analytics/Search Console): for site analytics, where you've consented to analytics cookies
Law enforcement or regulators: only if we're legally required to

Some of these providers may process data outside the UK/EU. Where that happens, we make sure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as Standard Contractual Clauses or an adequacy decision, as required under UK GDPR.

7. How Long We Keep Your Data

We keep personal data only as long as we actually need it:

Account and subscription data: for as long as your account is active, plus a reasonable period afterwards for accounting/legal purposes (typically up to 6 years, in line with UK tax record requirements)
Free weekly article email list: until you unsubscribe
Contact form messages: typically up to 12 months, unless we need to keep a record for a longer-running query
Analytics data: in line with Google's own retention settings, which we've set to the shortest practical period

If you ask us to delete your data (see Section 9), we'll do so unless we're legally required to keep it.

8. Keeping Your Data Safe

We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect your personal data, including secure hosting through Squarespace, restricted access to account/payment systems, and not storing card details ourselves. No online service can guarantee complete security, but we take this seriously and will notify the ICO and affected individuals of any serious data breach within the legally required timeframes.

9. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

Access the personal data we hold about you
Correct inaccurate data
Delete your data ("right to be forgotten"), in certain circumstances
Restrict or object to certain processing
Data portability: receive your data in a portable format
Withdraw consent at any time, where we're relying on consent (e.g. unsubscribing from emails)

To exercise any of these, email us at contact@sofiamagazine.co.uk. We'll respond within one month, as required by law.

If you're not happy with how we've handled your data, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), though we'd really appreciate the chance to sort it out directly first.

10. Children's Data

Sofia is intended for readers aged 13 and over. We don't knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has given us personal data, please contact us, and we'll delete it.

If you're under 18, we'd recommend having a parent or guardian aware of any purchases you make on the Site.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time, particularly as Sofia grows and we introduce new tools or features. We'll update the "last updated" date at the top, and for significant changes, we'll make this clear on the Site or via email.

12. Contact Us

Questions about this policy or your data? Email contact@sofiamagazine.co.uk and we’ll get back to you.

Sofia Magazine Ltd, 1 Pioden For, Barry, Wales, CF62 5DD