Data Governance & Content Policy

1. Purpose and our role

Urban Choices organises product, supplier, material and professional knowledge to make the South African furniture industry easier to understand and navigate. This policy explains how information is sourced, transformed, published, governed and corrected.

Urban Choices is an independent curator and publisher. Inclusion does not create a partnership, agency, endorsement or guarantee. We aim to present suppliers consistently and fairly while recognising that coverage will grow in stages and may not yet be comprehensive.

2. Information sources

Platform content may come from:

• manufacturer and supplier websites, catalogues, technical documents, press material and other public sources;
• content, product files, imagery and corrections submitted or authorised by manufacturers, suppliers, distributors and partners;
• government, standards bodies, industry organisations, academic sources and reputable publications;
• Urban Choices research, interviews, editorial work and structured analysis;
• user feedback, usage signals and enquiries, used in aggregated or appropriately protected form.

We do not knowingly publish confidential, restricted or unlawfully obtained information. A publicly accessible item may still carry intellectual-property rights and is handled accordingly.

3. Curation and transformation

To make diverse source material searchable and comparable, Urban Choices may extract, classify, summarise, tag, translate, standardise units, normalise terminology, remove duplication and link related records. Editorial descriptions may be rewritten for clarity and consistency.

We distinguish, where practical, between source statements, structured facts, estimates, editorial interpretation and AI-assisted output. We do not intentionally change the substantive meaning of supplier specifications.

4. Ownership, licences and attribution

Manufacturers, suppliers and creators retain their rights in names, marks, photographs, catalogues, product designs and submitted materials. Urban Choices retains rights in its original writing, database structure, classifications, interfaces, software and branding.

We use third-party material only where we have permission, a licence, a lawful basis, or a reasonable good-faith basis for limited informational use. We provide source or ownership context where appropriate. Rights holders may request attribution changes, updates or removal.

5. AI-assisted and generated content

Urban Choices may use automated and AI-assisted tools to extract fields, classify products, reconcile terminology, generate drafts, support search or answer user questions. These tools can make mistakes and do not replace verification.

• Important published content is subject to proportionate human or source-based review.
• AI output is treated as assistance, not an authoritative product specification or professional opinion.
• We seek to avoid exposing confidential or unnecessary personal information to AI services.
• Users must verify consequential recommendations, dimensions, compliance, availability and prices with the relevant source.

6. Quality, freshness and neutrality

We use reasonable processes to preserve provenance, identify duplicates, apply consistent schemas and review corrections. Content freshness varies by source and category. Where known, we may show verification or update signals, but those signals do not guarantee current accuracy.

Listings, rankings and recommendations may reflect relevance, completeness, user context, availability of evidence and Platform functionality. Paid or sponsored treatment, if introduced, will be identified and will not be presented as independent verification.

7. Subscriber and usage information

Account, verification and interaction information is governed by the Confidentiality, Data Protection & Security Policy. We may use aggregated or de-identified trends to improve search, understand demand and support industry insight. We do not publish an individual user’s confidential activity as supplier-facing content without an appropriate basis or permission.

8. Corrections, removals and complaints

Manufacturers, rights holders, users and other stakeholders may challenge accuracy, ownership, attribution or appropriateness. We assess the source, evidence, risk, public interest and legal position and may correct, annotate, restrict or remove content while a matter is reviewed.

9. Review and changes

Urban Choices reviews this policy as content types, data sources, AI features, supplier participation and legal requirements develop. The latest version and effective date will remain published here.