DRAFT — LEGAL REVIEW STILL OPEN. This page is a product draft from the 13 Oct 2026 privacy wording. It is not legal advice and must not go live until Hunduman fills the operator fields and a lawyer reviews it (Personal Data Protection Proclamation No. 1321/2024). Amharic / Afaan Oromo: native review required (not shipped yet).
Beni is a dating bot and Mini App on Telegram for adults (18+) in Ethiopia. This page says, in plain words, what we keep, who can see it, and what happens when you delete your account. We keep as little as we can.
Beni is run by [[OPERATOR LEGAL NAME — owner to fill]], [[CITY]], Ethiopia. Contact: [[SUPPORT CONTACT: Telegram @handle and email]].
What we keep about you
Telegram account: your Telegram user id. If you tap "Use my Telegram profile", also your Telegram name, username and profile photo.
Profile: name, age, sex, what you are looking for (intent), bio, hobbies, favourite places, profile emoji.
Area: region, city or town, and in Addis Ababa the subcity and woreda if you pick them, or a place you type yourself. Woreda is private (owner ruling C3): used for matching only; never shown on other people’s cards.
Photos: the photos you upload in the Mini App (up to 6). We store them on our server. We re-save them as JPEG and remove hidden photo data such as camera and GPS tags. First photos may stay hidden from others until a moderator approves them. Photos you send in the bot chat stay on Telegram; we keep a reference to them.
GPS location (only if you allow it): a point about 100 m wide, used to sort Near Me. The Near Me map shows city-level pins only for people who opt in to share exact location. See "Your location" below.
Hookups (only if you turn it on): that hookups are on, and the hookup choices you tick. (Exact tag list — LEGAL REVIEW before live.)
Activity: likes and super-likes (with any short comment), passes, matches, daily like counts, and when you were last active.
Safety: people you block, reports you make (with the reason you give), report status for admins, soft-hide flags when needed for safety, and whether an admin has restricted your account.
Verification, age check and Premium: whether you asked for or got the verified badge; age-check status; ID front/back images you upload for verification (seen by moderators only to approve or reject — treat as sensitive under Proclamation 1321/2024); photo-review status; and whether you have Premium. Telegram Stars payments are handled by Telegram; we keep Premium on/off and (when live) payment charge ids needed for refunds. See Premium agreement.
We do not read your Telegram chats or your contacts. Chats with your matches happen in Telegram, not in Beni.
Who can see what
People of the opposite sex who use Discover, Near Me, Likes, Matches or the Hookups map can see your public card: name, age, area, bio, photos, hobbies, favourite places, intent, the verified badge, and an "online" dot when you were active recently.
If hookups are on, your hookup choices also show on your card, and an emoji pin (no name, no photo) can show on the Hookups map of people who also turned hookups on.
Your Telegram username is not shown on your card. A person can open a Telegram chat with you only after you both liked each other (a match).
People you block do not see you. Reports go only to Beni admins.
Admins can see your profile, reports about you and reports you made, and verification documents in the review queue, so they can keep Beni safe. Admins must not copy ID images for personal use (ops handbook).
We do not sell your data. We do not use it for ads.
Your location
GPS is off until you tap a button that asks for it ("Use my GPS location", "Update location" or "Share location for Near Me"), confirm Beni's location sheet if shown, and your phone or Telegram asks you to allow it.
We keep one point about 100 m wide. Nobody else ever gets your coordinates unless you later opt in to share a more precise location (off by default). Beni can update GPS at most once every 10 minutes.
When you save GPS, Beni may set your area label from it (for example "Addis Ababa - Bole"). That label shows on your card. You can change it by hand.
Distance is hidden by default. Other people see no distance to you unless you turn on sharing approximate distance. Then they see only a rough band (for example "About 3 km"), never your exact pin.
Please know: when someone uses Near Me with a 3, 8 or 20 km circle, you appear in their list if you are inside it, and the list is sorted nearest first. So they can tell you are within that circle, even with distance hidden.
Turn GPS off any time from Profile (clear saved location / withdraw consent where available). Your area label stays until you change it.
Why we use your data
To run the service you asked for: show you to people and people to you, make matches, keep the 18+ rule, stop spam and abuse, and handle Premium. GPS and hookups are used only because you turned them on. You can turn them off at any time, and that does not affect anything we did before you turned them off.
Where your data is kept
Your data is stored on our server in [[HOSTING COUNTRY / PROVIDER — owner to fill before live]]. [[IF OUTSIDE ETHIOPIA: say so plainly and how it is protected — LEGAL REVIEW]]. Telegram also processes your data under Telegram's own privacy policy.
How long we keep it
While your account exists.
When you delete your account, we remove it from Beni straight away (see below). Copies in our backups are overwritten within [[N days — owner decision; draft suggestion 14]] days.
Reports and blocks other people made about you are kept for [[N months — owner decision; draft suggestion 12 months]] for safety, then deleted. LEGAL REVIEW.
Delete your account
Open the Mini App, go to Profile and tap Delete account, or send /delete_account in the bot. After you confirm, we permanently remove your profile, photos, location, likes and super-likes (given and received), passes, matches, daily counts, verification status, Premium flag, and the blocks and reports you made. This cannot be undone. To only take a break, send /stop in the bot to pause discovery.
What we keep after you delete, and why:
Blocks and reports that other people made about you. They hold your Telegram user id, the reason given and the date. We keep them so the people who blocked or reported you stay protected if you come back, and so admins can act on repeated abuse.
Backup copies until they are overwritten (see "How long we keep it").
Things Beni does not control: your Telegram chats and Telegram Stars payment records stay with Telegram.
If an admin has restricted your account, the delete button is turned off. Contact us at the support contact above and we will handle your request.
Your rights
You can ask to see the data we hold about you, to correct it, or to delete it, and you can withdraw your consent for GPS or hookups at any time in the app. Contact the support contact above. If you are not happy with our answer, you can complain to the Ethiopian Communications Authority, which oversees personal data protection in Ethiopia. LEGAL REVIEW.
If something goes wrong
If a security problem affects your data, we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires. LEGAL REVIEW.
Adults only
Beni is only for people aged 18 and over. If we learn that a user is under 18, we remove or soft-hide the account. Report an underage profile with Report, then "Underage concern".
Last updated 20 October 2026. LEGAL REVIEW STILL OPEN — do not treat as final for go-live.