Current status. Say Less is in pre-release testing and is not open to the public. It currently interacts only with Instagram accounts controlled by its developer for the purpose of validating the service. This policy describes how the service handles information both now and when it becomes available to others.
Say Less ("we", "the service") is an Instagram bot operated by Patrick Zlydak. It responds to public comments on Instagram in which it is @mentioned.
Say Less does not ask you for information. It receives information from Instagram when you interact with it publicly — by @mentioning it in a comment, or by replying to one of its comments.
| Information | Why we receive it |
|---|---|
| Your Instagram-scoped user ID | To tell participants apart, and to record whether a person has agreed or declined to take part |
| Your Instagram username | To address you in a public reply |
| The text of your public comment | It contains the instruction you are giving the service |
| The ID of the post and of any parent comment | To reply in the right place and understand what a reply refers to |
| Timestamps | To expire pending requests and ignore duplicates |
We do not collect your email address, phone number, payment details, location, contacts, private messages, or any information from private accounts or private posts.
Replies are generated by automated language models. Your public comment text and the surrounding public context may be sent to a third-party model provider in order to generate a reply. We do not permit model providers to use this content to train their models, and select providers on that basis.
Generated replies are checked against safety rules before publication. Some requests are refused.
Some Say Less commands involve a person other than the one giving the instruction. Where that is the case, the service asks that person publicly and proceeds only if they agree. If they decline, or do not answer, nothing is published about them. A declined request is not re-asked for a period of time.
Say Less replies publicly, as an Instagram comment, in the same thread. It does not send direct messages, post to its own feed about you, or share your information with other users beyond that public reply.
| What | How long |
|---|---|
| Pending consent requests | Until answered or expired, typically within 24 hours |
| Records of a completed interaction | Retained while the service operates, to avoid acting on the same comment twice |
| Declined-request records | Retained for the cooling-off period, then removed |
| Operational logs | Up to 30 days |
We share information only with:
We do not sell your information, and we do not share it for advertising.
Say Less is not intended for anyone under 13, and we do not knowingly retain information from them. If you believe we have, contact us and we will delete it.
If this policy changes materially, the effective date above will change. The current version is always at this address.
Your use of the service is also governed by our Terms of Service.
Questions or requests: pzlydak@gmail.com.