Verification Policy

Verification is a platform status based on records and review — not an absolute claim of a user's identity, legality, or trustworthiness. This policy describes the states, the evidence, who can access it, and how review and appeals work. Face/identity capture specifics are in the Identity & Face Verification Addendum.

1. Verification states

Your Account carries a verification state, shown via a badge:

Each verification submission also has an internal record state: submitted → under_review → approved / rejected / expired. A rejected or expired record returns the Account to unverified (or its prior valid state); re-review is possible by submitting again.

2. What we collect and why

• Personal/creator verification: identity evidence (e.g. a government ID) and, where used, a face capture for liveness/identity assurance.
• Business verification: business evidence (e.g. registration documents) plus the business profile identity fields.

Evidence is submitted as file references stored privately in Cloudflare R2. Purpose: confirm the badge is warranted, deter impersonation and fraud, and meet trust-and-safety and legal duties. See the Privacy Policy §4.8–4.9.

3. Who can access evidence

Verification evidence is accessible only to (a) the submitting user and (b) authorised Aphelion platform admins/reviewers. Every admin view of evidence is logged (admin_audit_logs) via an audited proxy; evidence is never exposed publicly and is not used for advertising, ranking, or any purpose other than verification. Evidence is disclosed to authorities only on a valid legal request.

4. Review, decisions, and honesty of display

Review is a manual admin decision recorded with reviewer, action, and notes. The app shows a badge only when a matching verification is approved — it never displays "verified" based on submission alone. Business verification (verified_business) is granted only from an approved business proof.

5. Expiry and re-review

Verification may expire (e.g. where evidence has a validity period or where circumstances change) and may require re-review. We may re-review or revoke verification if we learn the evidence was false, the account is misused, or the underlying facts change.

6. Appeals

If your verification is rejected or revoked, you may appeal by contacting fuy.aphelion@gmail.com with your username and context. We will re-examine the record and respond within the timelines in the Grievance Redressal Policy.

7. What verification is not

A badge does not warrant a user's identity beyond our review, nor the safety, legality, solvency, or quality of their content, offers, or deals. Users should exercise their own judgment, especially in collaborations and commercial dealings.

8. Planned: Third-party verification providers

The verification system is provider-ready but currently uses stored evidence + manual review, with no third-party biometric SDK. If a third-party identity/biometric provider is added, this policy and the face-verification addendum will be updated and, where required, fresh consent obtained before processing.