Content Processing & Retention Policy

Voice Bridge, Rwanda Media Voice Bridge Platform

Exactly what happens to your files from the moment you upload them to the moment they are permanently deleted.

This policy explains precisely how Voice Bridge handles the video and audio content you upload. It covers what the platform does technically, what data is created, how long everything is kept, and how deletion is carried out. It is designed to give you, and any individuals who appear in your content, complete transparency over what happens to your files.

1. What Happens the Moment You Upload

2. What the Platform Does, and Does Not, Do With Your Content

The Voice Bridge platform's permitted use of your uploaded content is strictly limited to:

1. Speech recognition and transcription, converting spoken audio to text.
2. Subtitle generation and timecode synchronisation.
3. Translation and localisation between Kinyarwanda, English, French, and Swahili.
4. Quality assurance and editorial validation within the editing interface.

The platform does NOT:

• Train, retrain, or fine-tune any AI model using your content without your explicit written consent.
• Clone, replicate, or synthesise any person's voice from your uploads.
• Create deepfakes or synthetic media from your audiovisual content.
• Use your content for biometric identification, speaker profiling, or surveillance.
• Share your content with any third party without your prior written consent.
• Submit your content to third-party AI services whose terms permit retention or training use.

3. Voice and Biometric Data, Enhanced Protections

Under Rwanda Law No. 058/2021 and our agreements with C4IR and GIZ, we recognise that:

• A human voice is biometric data and a personal identity marker. Voice recordings of identifiable individuals are subject to enhanced protection requirements under applicable law.
• Faces, images, and likenesses in video content constitute personal data and may be biometric identifiers.
• Location information embedded in or derivable from audiovisual content, including identifiable places or geolocation metadata, may constitute personal data where it relates to an identifiable individual.

In response to these protections, Voice Bridge:

• Applies data minimisation, the platform processes only the portions of your content necessary for transcription, subtitle generation, and translation. It does not extract or store voice prints, facial recognition data, or location profiles.
• Does not retain any identifiable voice or visual data longer than necessary for the processing task.
• Implements safeguards against re-identification of individuals from processed voice data.
• Does not use voice data for text-to-speech synthesis or voice cloning under any circumstances without a separate explicit agreement and the written consent of the Data Subject, consistent with Clause 14 of the RMVB Data Sharing Agreement.

4. Full Retention Schedule

* Content used for model testing requires separate written consent, this never happens automatically. See Privacy Policy, Section 5.

5. What "Permanent Deletion" Means

When Voice Bridge deletes your files, permanent deletion means:

• Removal from all active storage systems and processing queues.
• Removal from all content delivery caches and temporary files.
• Overwriting of disaster recovery backup copies within 30 days of active deletion.
• No shadow copies, soft-deletes, or recoverable archives are retained.
• No data distilled or derived from your uploaded content is retained after deletion, except for model weights already incorporated into a model during a separately consented and completed training run.

Duka Labs maintains a Deletion Confirmation Log, a formal record of all content downloads and deletions, as required under the RMVB project agreements with C4IR and GIZ. This log captures the identity of the person who downloaded the data, the date of download, the scope of data downloaded, the date of deletion, and signed confirmation that deletion was carried out. Institutional clients may request to view this log for their own data in writing.

6. Third-Party Processing

Voice Bridge may use third-party AI services or APIs for performance benchmarking and model evaluation during the pilot phase. Where your content is involved in such testing:

• Duka Labs verifies that the third-party provider's terms of service do not permit retention or use of input data for training their own models before any content is submitted, as required under Section 6 of the Duka Labs Terms for Data Contribution and Use.
• Where this cannot be conclusively confirmed, content is anonymised and stripped of all identifying metadata before submission.
• No identifiable personal data, including voice prints or visual identifiers, is submitted to any third-party AI service without both anonymisation and your awareness.
• A register of all third-party AI services used is maintained. Institutional clients may request this register in writing.

7. End of Platform / Project End

Voice Bridge is currently funded by GIZ as a pilot project. In the event of project end or platform discontinuation:

• You will receive at least 30 days' notice before the platform is closed.
• During the notice period, you may download all your transcription and subtitle outputs.
• Within 30 days of the project end date, all user-uploaded content, transcriptions, translations, subtitle files, aggregated datasets, and all data derived from uploaded content will be permanently deleted from all systems, consistent with Section 9 of the Duka Labs Terms for Data Contribution and Use and our obligations to C4IR and GIZ.
• Duka Labs will provide written confirmation of complete data deletion within 14 days of deletion being carried out.

8. Your Rights Over Your Content

You may at any time:

• Request immediate deletion of any uploaded file or output, before the scheduled deletion period, use the dashboard delete function or contact privacy@voicebridge.rw.
• Download your transcription and subtitle outputs at any time during the 30-day retention period.
• Object to your content being used for model testing, this requires a separate consent process and you may withdraw before any testing use begins.
• Request written confirmation that your content and all derived data have been permanently deleted.

For individuals who appear in content uploaded by a third party, actors, interview subjects, or other performers, who wish to exercise rights under Rwanda Law No. 058/2021, including the right to erasure or the right to withdraw consent for their voice or likeness data: contact privacy@voicebridge.rw. We will assist you in exercising your rights.

9. Updates to This Policy

This policy may be updated to reflect technical changes to the platform or changes in applicable law. We will notify account holders by email and platform notice at least 30 days before material changes take effect. The current version is always available at voicebridge.rw/content-policy.

10. Contact

© 2026 Duka Labs Limited / Voice Bridge. All rights reserved. For legal review before publication. Version 1.0 · May 2026