Effective date: 23 September 2024
Last updated: 3 October 2026
Sababu respects your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect when you use our websites, how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. We have tried to describe only what our websites actually do.
1. Who we are
This Privacy Policy covers:
- sababu.mv, our Dhivehi news website;
- en.sababu.mv, our English news website; and
- the ways you can contact us (email, telephone and WhatsApp).
Together these are called the "Services". The Services are operated by PHOENIX TRADE LLP, Registration No. P02312019, H. Leema, Malé, Republic of Maldives ("Sababu", "we", "us").
This policy does not cover our pages on Facebook, X, Instagram or WhatsApp. Those platforms are run by other companies under their own privacy policies.
2. Information we collect
2.1 You can read Sababu without giving us personal information
You do not need an account to read Sababu, and we do not offer user registration or subscriptions.
2.2 When you post a comment
- On sababu.mv we ask for the name you want to display and your comment.
- On en.sababu.mv we ask for a name and your comment. You can also give an email address and a website. Your email address is not published.
- On both websites we also store the IP address and browser (user-agent) details of the device used to post a comment, together with the date and time. These are not published. We use them to fight spam and abuse, and to deal with legal complaints about a comment.
- The name you give and your comment are published publicly next to the article (after moderation, where it applies). Please do not include personal information in comments that you do not want to make public.
2.3 When you react to an article
Each article lets you choose a reaction (such as "Like"). We do not ask who you are when you react. To remember your reaction and stop the same browser from reacting repeatedly, our websites place a cookie named da-reactions-token in your browser (see section 4). Your reaction is counted in the totals shown on the article.
2.4 Advertising measurement
Our websites show advertisements in clearly labelled advertising spaces. We serve these advertisements ourselves. They are not supplied by a third-party ad network.
To report to advertisers how often their advertisement was seen or clicked, our websites record when an advertisement becomes visible on your screen and when it is clicked. On sababu.mv, the information sent is the advertisement's identification number and whether it was a "view" or a "click". On en.sababu.mv, advertisements are managed with the AdRotate WordPress plugin, which records impressions and clicks in a similar way. As with any web request, your IP address reaches our servers when this happens, but we do not store it with the advertising statistics, which are kept only as counts for each advertisement. We use this information only in aggregate to produce advertising statistics. Records from the previous version of sababu.mv, which stored IP addresses with advertisement views and clicks until March 2026, are kept no longer than the period set out in section 7.
If you click an advertisement, you will be taken to the advertiser's website, which has its own privacy practices.
2.5 Technical information
When you visit our websites, your browser automatically sends information such as your IP address, browser type, device type, the page requested and the referring page. Our hosting and security providers process this information to deliver pages, keep the Services secure and protect them from attacks (see section 5).
We do not currently use third-party analytics services (such as Google Analytics) or third-party advertising or tracking pixels (such as Facebook/Meta Pixel) on our websites. If this changes, we will update this policy before or when the change takes effect.
2.6 When you contact us
If you email us, call or message our hotline, or send us a WhatsApp message, we receive the details you choose to share, such as your name, phone number, email address and the content of your message, including any photographs, videos or documents you send as a news tip.
3. How we use your information
We use information to:
- publish and display comments and reactions;
- moderate comments and protect the Services against spam, abuse and security threats;
- measure how often advertisements are seen and clicked, and report aggregate figures to advertisers;
- respond to your messages, news tips, correction requests and complaints;
- keep the websites working and fix technical problems; and
- comply with the law, respond to lawful requests from authorities, and protect the rights and safety of Sababu, our readers and others.
We do not sell your personal information. We do not use it to build advertising profiles about you.
4. Cookies
Cookies are small text files that a website stores in your browser. Our websites use only a small number of cookies:
| Cookie | Website | Purpose | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
da-reactions-token |
sababu.mv and en.sababu.mv | Remembers your reaction to articles and prevents duplicate reactions | 1 year |
comment_author_*, comment_author_email_*, comment_author_url_* |
en.sababu.mv | Remembers your name, email and website for your next comment, only if you choose to have them saved | About 1 year (WordPress default) |
Cloudflare security cookies (for example __cf_bm, cf_clearance) |
Both | May be set by Cloudflare to tell people apart from bots and block attacks | From 30 minutes up to the period set by Cloudflare |
We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. If you do, you can still read Sababu, but your reactions may not be remembered.
5. Who we share information with
We share information only as described here:
- Cloudflare, Inc. provides our content delivery network and security services. All traffic to our websites passes through Cloudflare, which processes technical information such as IP addresses to deliver pages and protect the sites.
- Our hosting provider, DigitalOcean, stores our websites and databases on servers in Singapore. Our websites are served through Cloudflare.
- Google Fonts. Pages on en.sababu.mv load some fonts from Google's servers (fonts.googleapis.com), which means your browser sends your IP address to Google when it loads those fonts. sababu.mv uses fonts hosted on our own servers.
- WordPress.org. Pages on en.sababu.mv may load emoji images from WordPress.org's servers (s.w.org).
- Sharing buttons. Our articles have buttons to share on Facebook, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, Pinterest, WhatsApp, Telegram and email. These are simple links. Nothing is sent to those services unless you click a button, and you then use that service under its own privacy policy.
- Authorities. We may disclose information where the law requires it, for example in response to a valid court order or a lawful request from a competent authority. We will consider such requests carefully, with due regard to the protection of journalistic sources.
6. Protection of journalistic sources
Information you give us as a confidential source is handled under our Editorial Policy and Code of Conduct. Under Article 28 of the Constitution of the Maldives, no person shall be compelled to disclose the source of information they publish. We will protect the identity of sources to the full extent the law allows.
7. How long we keep information
- Published comments are kept for as long as the article they belong to is online, unless they are removed earlier.
- Technical records and advertising statistics are kept for up to 12 months.
- Messages and tips are kept for as long as needed to deal with them and for our journalistic records, and for no longer than 2 years.
8. Security
We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect the information we hold, including encrypted connections (HTTPS) and the security services provided by Cloudflare. No system on the internet is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee that information will never be lost, misused or accessed without permission.
9. Your choices and requests
You may ask us to:
- tell you what personal information we hold about you;
- correct information that is wrong;
- remove a comment you posted, or delete personal information we hold about you; or
- stop using your information for a particular purpose.
Send your request to info@sababu.mv. We may need to confirm that a comment or message is really yours before acting on it. We may keep information where we are required to by law, or where it forms part of our journalism and the public interest justifies keeping it.
10. Children
Sababu is a general news service and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has given us personal information, for example in a comment, please contact us and we will remove it.
11. Information processed outside the Maldives
Our service providers, including Cloudflare, operate servers in many countries. Information about your visit may therefore be processed outside the Maldives. Our websites and databases are hosted by DigitalOcean in Singapore.
12. The law in the Maldives
Article 24 of the Constitution of the Maldives protects the right to privacy. At the time of writing, the Maldives does not have a comprehensive personal data protection law in force. A Personal Data Protection Bill was submitted to the People's Majlis in May 2026. We will review and update this policy if that Bill or any other data protection law comes into force.
13. Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, for example when we add new features to our websites. We will post the updated version on this page and change the "Last updated" date. Where a change is significant, we will also display a notice on the websites.
14. Contact us
For any question about this Privacy Policy or your information:
- Email: info@sababu.mv
- Hotline / WhatsApp: 9393535 (+960 939 3535)
- Address: H. Leema, Malé, Republic of Maldives