Privacy Notice

Meşgalem is run by Meşgalem Hediye Sanayi Anonim Şirketi, a company registered in İstanbul, Türkiye. Because we are based in Türkiye, the law that governs how we handle your personal data is the Turkish Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698 (“KVKK”), and this notice is written to meet its Article 10. We have tried to keep the legal language to a minimum; if anything is unclear, the contact details at the bottom of the page are for exactly that.

What we collect

When you browse the site

• Connection and device details: IP address, browser and operating system, screen size, preferred language.
• Usage details: which pages you open and when, and the link that brought you here.
• Your cookie choice and your language choice.

Cookies and similar technologies are described in our Cookie Policy.

When you write to us (by e-mail, phone, WhatsApp or Instagram)

• Your name, how to reach you, and what you wrote.
• When you message our WhatsApp line, the first reply usually comes from Meşgalem’s AI assistant. It answers general questions about Meşgalem and our pieces; it cannot see your order or your account, and when something needs the team it takes a note and passes it on. To write its reply, the text of the conversation is sent to Microsoft Azure OpenAI (Europe); the provider does not use it to train models. If you would rather talk to a person, just say so.

When you ask a question under an inspiration story

• Your first name (shown next to the question), the text of your question and your WhatsApp number.
• We send a one-time verification code to that number; the number is used only for this verification and to prevent abuse, is stored encrypted and is never displayed on the site. Questions are read by our team before publication and we may decline to publish one.

When you place an order

• Who you are and how to reach you: name, phone number, e-mail.
• Where to deliver and how to invoice: address and, where relevant, tax details.
• Order details: the pieces you chose, payment and shipping status, our correspondence.
• Personalisation details: the name, birth date or short message to go on the piece; for some products, images you send us such as a hand or footprint or a child’s drawing.

Personalisation details are usually about your baby, your child or someone close to you. We treat them as shared by you as the parent, guardian or relative, purely so that we can make that one piece. We do not use them for anything else.

Payments are taken by the bank or payment provider behind the method you choose; Meşgalem never stores your card details.

At checkout you may tick a separate, optional box allowing us to send one WhatsApp message a few days after delivery asking how you found the pieces. That consent is stored with the order and used for that single message only. How the reviews you write are published is explained in how we publish reviews.

When you open an account (My baby’s firsts)

• Your account is your WhatsApp number; we ask for no password or e-mail. The number is stored encrypted, sign-in uses a one-time code, and the session cookie (mg_session) only recognises you.
• The child details we ask for are deliberately minimal: a name or nickname, the birth (or due) date and the moments you write (date, short note, optional photo). We do not ask for gender, measurements or health information. You add a child as their parent or guardian, and the time of that statement is recorded.
• Photos live in a private store that only your own session can open; they are never published or used in reminders.
• WhatsApp reminders need a separate opt-in, can be switched off from your account at any time, and we send at most two a month.
• New-story notes are a separate opt-in too: only stories published after you opted in, at most one message a fortnight; switch them off from your account whenever you like.
• You can download your data from your account as JSON; deleting your account removes children, moments and photos immediately and permanently. Accounts with no sign-in for two years are deleted.

When you send a photo to From Your Homes

• Your photo is stored resized with location and device data (EXIF) removed; the original file is not kept. Our team reviews it before it goes live; nobody sees it until it is approved.
• When you send it you confirm the photo is yours and that it may appear on mesgalem.com.tr and Meşgalem’s own social accounts. If a child is visible you also confirm you are their parent or guardian; the time of these confirmations is recorded.
• Your WhatsApp number is verified with a one-time code and stored encrypted; only the name and note you typed are shown. To have a photo taken down, message us on WhatsApp from the number you verified with and it comes down straight away.

When you use the Time Machine

• The photo you upload is processed only to produce the look you picked: it is downsized, stripped of location and device data (EXIF) and sent to our image service (Microsoft Azure AI Foundry, Europe). The provider does not use these images to train models.
• The processed copy of your photo and the generated image are kept for up to 90 days in the Apivom platform’s secure object store in Türkiye so we can improve the service and review results, then deleted. The result link stays open for 24 hours at an address only people with the link can open. No name, phone number or other identifier is stored with the photo — only a keyed hash of your number and the era you picked.
• To receive the result you verify your WhatsApp number with a one-time code; the number is stored encrypted, the daily allowance is counted against a keyed hash of it, and the generated image is sent to that number over WhatsApp.
• If the person in the photo is a child, you confirm that you upload it as their parent or guardian and on their behalf; please do not upload other people’s photos without their permission. To have a photo deleted early, write to us through the channels at the end of this page with the result link.

Why we process it, and on what legal basis

We do not send marketing e-mails. If we ever want to, we will ask you separately first.

Who we share it with

We do not sell your data. We share it only as far as the purposes above require, with:

• Couriers — your name, phone number and address, to deliver your order.
• Banks and payment providers — to take your payment.
• Hosting, content delivery and security providers — to keep the site running; some of these services may use servers outside Türkiye.
• Analytics providers — only with your explicit consent. Using Google Analytics means your usage data is transferred abroad (to Google LLC in the United States). If you do not consent, no such transfer takes place.
• AI service provider — the text of your WhatsApp conversation, so the assistant can reply (Microsoft Azure OpenAI, Europe).
• Public authorities — where the law requires it.

How long we keep it

• Order, invoice and correspondence records: for as long as Turkish tax and commercial law requires, which can be up to ten years.
• Images and notes sent for personalisation: deleted within a reasonable time after the piece has been delivered and the return period has passed.
• Contact messages: deleted within a reasonable time after the matter is closed.
• Reader questions: a published question and its answer for as long as the story stays online; verification codes for at most a day; your phone number within a reasonable time after your question is removed.
• From Your Homes photos: for as long as they stay online; a removed or declined photo’s file is deleted at once and its record within ninety days.
• Analytics data: up to fourteen months if you consented; otherwise only aggregate statistics that cannot be linked back to you.

Your rights

Under Article 11 of the KVKK you may ask us to:

• confirm whether we process your personal data and, if so, tell you about it,
• explain the purpose and whether the data is used in line with it,
• name the third parties, in Türkiye or abroad, that receive it,
• correct anything incomplete or inaccurate,
• delete or destroy it, within the limits of Article 7,
• pass any correction or deletion on to the third parties that received the data,
• not be subject to a decision based solely on automated analysis that works against you,
• compensate you for damage caused by unlawful processing.

Send your request in writing to the postal address below, or to our e-mail address, with enough information for us to confirm your identity. We reply free of charge within thirty days at the latest. If you are unhappy with our reply, you can complain to the Turkish Personal Data Protection Board (Kişisel Verileri Koruma Kurulu).

Changes to this notice

We may update this notice as our services grow. The current version is always the one on this page; if we change anything significant, we update the date at the top.