Privacy Policy

Last updated 21 October 2026

1. Who we are

Your World is a free online game and Instagram series. It runs on Instagram at @yourworldglobe and on this website. "We" and "us" mean the small team that runs it from New South Wales, Australia.

You can reach us by messaging @yourworldglobe on Instagram. If you need our full details for a formal request, message us and we will give them to you.

2. What we collect

When you comment on one of our posts

Every ten minutes our system reads the comments on our own Instagram posts from the last 21 days. It uses Meta's official Instagram API, with the permission Meta gives us to read comments on our own account. We never scrape Instagram and we never read anyone else's posts.

When your comment names a country, we keep:

• your Instagram username, as Instagram shows it
• the text of your comment, cut to 280 characters
• the country we found in it, and the city if you named one
• when you posted the comment, and which of our posts it was on
• Instagram's id number for the comment
• which episode day your house counts for

One username gets one house. Your first comment that names a country is the one that counts.

When your comment does not name a country we can place, we still keep your username, the comment text, the time and the post. We read these by hand to improve the list of places the game understands.

We also keep Instagram's id number for every comment we have read, with no username next to it, so we never read the same comment twice.

When we message you

We may send you one private message on Instagram, as a reply to the comment that built your house. It welcomes you, tells you which country your house is in, and links to the episode and the live map. Instagram only allows this within 7 days of your comment. We send it once, and nothing more unless you message us back.

We keep a record of it: your username, the comment it replied to, the episode day, the words we sent, whether it went through, and when.

When you sign in, if you choose to

Sign in opens soon. This part says what it will keep.

• Sign in with Instagram. You sign in on Instagram's own page. Instagram then tells us your username and your Instagram account id. We ask for nothing else.
• Sign in with a code. You type your username, we show you a short code, and you comment that code on our latest post. We match the code to your username when we read the comment. The code is only used to prove the account is yours.
• Either way, we then set one cookie in your browser that keeps you signed in. It is only used for signing in.

When you message us

If you message us on Instagram, the conversation stays in our Instagram inbox so we can answer you.

When you visit this website

Like every website, the company that serves our pages (Cloudflare) sees your IP address and browser details in order to deliver the site and protect it from attacks. We do not put these into our database.

The live map keeps a copy of the public house list in your browser, so it can still show the world if your signal drops. It also remembers the last three usernames you searched for, so you can find them again. Both hold only what the map already shows, and they are never sent back to us. Clearing your browser data removes them.

3. What we never collect

• Your Instagram password. Sign in with Instagram happens on Instagram's own page.
• Your direct messages. If you message us yourself, we read it in the Instagram app to answer you.
• Your followers, who you follow, your likes, your photos or your stories.
• Your email address.
• Your real name, address, phone number or location. The country on the globe is the one you typed, not where you are.
• Payment details. Your World is free and never takes payments.

We do not sell your information. We do not use it for advertising and we do not share it with advertisers.

4. How we use it

• To build your house in the country and city you named, and to work out each country's president, the first person from that country.
• To send you one welcome message about your house.
• To show your username on the globe, in our episodes and on the live map.
• To keep the game fair: one house per username, and spam, abuse and fake accounts removed.
• To sign you in and show you your own house.
• To answer you when you message us.

If you live in the European Union, the United Kingdom or a country with similar laws: we use your information because we have a legitimate interest in running the game you chose to join by commenting. Sign in is based on your choice to sign in. You can object at any time and we will take you off the globe.

5. Who can see it

The point of the game is that people can see your house. So:

• Public: your username, your country, your city if you named one, and the day you moved in. They appear on the globe, on the live map, and in our episodes on Instagram, which show the presidents and the newest residents by name.
• Not shown: the text of your comment, the time you posted it, and its id. These stay in our database. Your comment itself is still public on Instagram, where you posted it.

These companies hold or handle the information for us:

• Cloudflare runs this website and the database that holds the houses (Cloudflare D1).
• A rented cloud server makes the episodes. Each time it makes one, it receives the list of usernames, countries, days and times.
• Meta is where the comments come from, where our episodes are posted, and how we send the welcome message. Meta handles your Instagram account under its own privacy policy.

We share information only as described here, or if the law requires us to.

6. Where it is kept

Our providers run computers in many countries, so your information may be stored or handled outside Australia, including in the United States.

7. How long we keep it

• Your house: for as long as Your World runs, unless you ask us to remove it.
• The welcome message record: for as long as Your World runs, unless you ask us to delete it.
• Comments that named no country: for as long as Your World runs, unless you ask us to delete them.
• The daily lists on the episode server: for as long as Your World runs, unless you ask us to delete yours.
• Comment id numbers: for as long as Your World runs. They have no usernames next to them.
• Episode videos: the working files are cleared after 14 days. The finished video stays on the episode server at a private address, so Instagram can fetch it, and the posted episode stays on Instagram.
• Messages to us: we delete the conversation once your request is done.

When Your World closes for good, we delete the database and the server copies.

8. Leaving the globe

Message @yourworldglobe on Instagram from the account that has the house. If you cannot message from that account, message us from another one and we will ask you to comment a short code on our latest post from the account with the house, so we know it is yours.

Here is exactly what removal does:

1. Your house is deleted from our database: your username, country, city, comment text, comment id, post, time and day.
2. Your username goes on a "do not add" list, with the date. Any comment you make after that never builds a house.
3. From then on you are not in any episode we make, and the live map drops you within a few minutes.

Some things removal does not do by itself, so we do them by hand when you ask:

• We delete any comments of yours that named no country, our record of the welcome message we sent you, and your entries in the daily lists on the episode server.

Episodes already posted stay on Instagram as they are, because a posted video cannot be changed. If an old episode is a real problem for you, tell us and we will look at it.

The "do not add" list keeps your username so we can keep you off. If you ever want back in, tell us and we will take you off that list.

For the full steps, including Sign in with Instagram, see Delete your data.

9. Your rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us to:

• tell you what we hold about you, and give you a copy
• correct it, for example if we put you in the wrong country
• delete it
• stop using it

It is free. We answer within 30 days. We may ask you to show the Instagram account is yours first.

Australia

We follow the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988. If you are unhappy with how we handled your information, tell us first. If we do not fix it, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.

European Union, United Kingdom and similar laws (GDPR)

You also have the right to object to how we use your information, to limit it, to get your information in a format you can move elsewhere, and to complain to the data protection authority where you live.

California (CCPA)

You have the right to know what we collect, to have it deleted or corrected, and to not be treated differently for using these rights. We do not sell or share personal information, as those words are used in California law, and we collect no sensitive personal information. The categories we collect are listed in What we collect.

10. Children

Your World is for people aged 13 and over, the same as Instagram. We do not knowingly keep information about anyone under 13. If we learn that a house belongs to someone under 13, we remove it. Parents can message us on Instagram at any time.

11. Security

Everything travels over encrypted connections. Only our admin tools can change the database, and they need a secret key. No system is perfect. If something goes wrong that could harm you, we will tell the people affected and do what the law requires.

12. Changes and contact

If we change this policy, we update the date at the top. If the change is big, we will say so on @yourworldglobe.

Questions or requests: message @yourworldglobe on Instagram.