Introduction
This is the cookie policy for Guardian News & Media Limited (collectively referred to as “Guardian”, “we”, “us” or “our” in this policy), our sites such as theguardian.com, and our associated apps (“our sites”). Some of our other sites and services have their own cookie policies, which will be relevant to you when you are using those sites and services.
For more information about how we may use personal data, please read our privacy policy or email dataprotection@theguardian.com.
What is a cookie?
A cookie is a small file that contains letters and numbers that is downloaded on to your device when you visit a website. It is sent to your browser and stored on your computer’s hard drive, tablet or mobile device. When you visit our sites it can allow us to recognise and remember you.
Technologies similar to cookies
Technologies that store or access information on a user’s device are similar to cookies and are also covered by this policy. These technologies may include:
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Device fingerprinting – using a set of information without relying on cookies in order to identify a particular device. For this purpose where you are resident in Australia, our partner Ipsos Iris may collect your IP address, monitor settings, type of browser and operating system to create a unique serial number which constitutes a digital “fingerprint”.
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Local storage – storage of data in the local device’s cache, for example to load content quicker.
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Pixels – a small pixel graphic which is used to track user behaviour, site conversions etc.
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Scripts – small computer programs embedded within websites that give them extra functionality but may access user devices.
In this policy we call all cookies and similar technologies “cookies”, for ease.
First-party and third-party cookies
There are different types of cookies:
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First-party cookies – cookies that are set by the Guardian when you use our site.
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Third-party cookies – cookies that are set by parties or organisations other than the Guardian when you use our site. Some Guardian web pages may also contain content from or link to other sites which may set their own cookies. If you share a link to a Guardian page, the service you share it on may set a cookie on your browser.
How do we use cookies?
We use cookies in a range of ways to improve your experience on our sites, including:
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Keeping you signed in.
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Understanding how you use our site, for instance how long you stay on a page or which article you read next.
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Delivering content to you.
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Showing you journalism that is relevant to you.
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Showing you Guardian products and services that are relevant to you.
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Delivering marketing and service messages to you on our site.
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Working with partners to deliver relevant advertising to you.
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Reminding you to complete online journeys (e.g. registration flow).
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Processing payments and refunds.
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Monitoring how users interact with pages on our site to identify and remedy technical issues.
In the next sections, we explain in more detail how cookies on our site may be useful, as well as when and where you can control them.
What types of cookies do we use?
We use four types of cookies:
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Strictly Necessary – These cookies are essential to provide you with services you have requested, which means they cannot be switched off through the “Privacy Settings” link. For example, strictly necessary cookies make it possible for you to stay logged into your Guardian account and make comments. If you set your browser to block these cookies, then these functions and services will not work for you. In particular, we won’t be able to save your preferences about cookies.
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Performance – These cookies measure how often you visit our site and how you use them. We use this information to get a better sense of how you engage with our journalism and to improve our sites so that you have a better experience. For example, we collect information about which of our pages are most frequently visited, and by which types of users.
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Functionality – These cookies are used to recognise you and remember your preferences or settings when you return to our site so that we can provide you with a more personalised experience. For example, if you are based in the UK, we will remember this and make sure that you receive the UK homepage when you visit our site, rather than the US or Australia homepage.
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Advertising – These cookies are used to collect information about your visit to our site, including the content you have viewed, the links you have followed and information about your browser, device and your IP address. We have set out more details on this below.
How long do cookies last?
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Session cookies – These cookies only last as long as your online session and expire when you close your browser (e.g. Chrome or Safari).
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Persistent cookies – These cookies stay on your device after your browser has been closed and last for a time specified in the cookie (but not longer than 13 months). We use these cookies when we need to remember you for more than one browsing session, for instance to remember your preferences from one visit to the next.
Why do we use cookies for advertising?
From the very first edition of the Manchester Guardian, published in 1821, our journalism has been funded in part by advertising. Our editorial content is not influenced by the advertising we display and our journalists are free to, and often do, challenge the activities of companies and organisations that advertise and sponsor content that appears in Guardian sites and publications.
Increasingly, our readers fund us directly – either by buying a newspaper, or taking out a print or digital subscription or through making one-off, regular or monthly contributions. But to grow our number of supporters, we are reliant on marketing and still rely in part on advertising to fund our journalism. Therefore, cookies provide vital services to the Guardian without sacrificing our independence or values.
How do we use cookies for advertising?
If you accept cookies, as you browse our site, we will place cookies on your device. Some cookies are for advertising, so we can understand what sorts of pages you read and are interested in viewing. We can then display advertising on your browser based on these interests. For instance, if you have been reading a lot of food articles, you may be shown more adverts for food.
Our apps integrate third-party software that provides us with information about how the app is used and what content you have viewed for the purposes of online advertising and analytics. It uses cookies from some of the providers listed in our “Privacy Settings”, that can be found in the footer of every page on our site. The advertising techniques we use do not collect personal data such as your name, email address, postal address or phone number. We sometimes use information such as your IP address and browser type, and also sometimes share these with others for advertising purposes.
We also allow other organisations to use cookies and other technologies to help us analyse how our site is being used, measure the number of visitors to the site, and display advertising.
How do third parties use cookies for advertising?
With your consent we share and receive online data collected through cookies with our advertising partners. This means that when you are on another website, you may be shown advertising based on your browsing patterns on our site. We may also show you advertising on our site based on your browsing patterns on other sites that we have obtained from our advertising partners.
Online retargeting is another form of online advertising that allows us and some of our advertising partners to show you advertising based on your browsing patterns and interactions with other sites. The use of cookies may mean that when you are on another site, you may be shown advertising based on what you have looked at on our site. For example, if you have visited the website of an online clothes shop, you may start seeing adverts from that same shopping site displaying special offers or showing you the products you were browsing. This allows companies to advertise to you if you leave their website without making a purchase.
We require that all our contractual partners treat your personal data with a similar level of respect that we would provide. We only work with partners where we have transparency as to what happens to any data shared with them.
Ozone Project
We are a partner in the Ozone Project that uses cookies to collect information about what you have viewed and how you have used our sites. They will make inferences about your interests and preferences and add you to groups based on those inferences, in order to show you advertising. For example, if you look at a page in our travel section you might be added to a group for people interested in holidaying abroad, and then we might show you adverts for holidays abroad.
You can find details of how the Ozone Project handles your information here.
Microsoft
We have entered into an agreement with Microsoft who may collect or receive information about you to provide Microsoft Advertising. You can opt out by following this link:
https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-gb/privacystatement
Google Ad Manager
We use Google Ad Manager to deliver advertising. In order to do this Google may collect or receive information about you. You can opt out and find further information about Google by following this link:
https://policies.google.com/privacy
Criteo
We have entered into an agreement with Criteo who may collect or receive information about you to provide advertising that is targeted to your interests. Criteo may also provide this information to their partners to provide advertising targeted to your interests. You can opt out and find further information about Criteo and their partners by following this link:
https://www.criteo.com/privacy/
Teads
We have entered into an agreement with Teads who may collect or receive information about you and share this information with their partners to provide advertising targeted to your interests. You can opt out and find further information about Teads and their partners by following this link:
https://www.teads.com/privacy-policy/
Social Media
There are times when we want to reach Guardian readers who use social media to market our own products and services such as our live events and Guardian Jobs. We use cookies to help with this.
How can you control advertising cookies?
If you reside anywhere in the world (except California or the US), you can exercise control over advertising cookies by clicking the “Privacy Settings” link in the footer of every page on our site. For more information, please read “How to manage cookies at the Guardian” below.
If you are a California or US resident
If you are a California or US resident, you may elect to opt out of all sales of personal information through these cookies, tags, pixels, and web beacons by clicking the “California resident – Do not sell” link located in the footer of every page on our site or by clicking the “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” button inside our privacy banner.
How to manage cookies at the Guardian?
You can manage the use of cookies on our site, including advertising cookies, and disable the sharing of data with partners for advertising purposes by clicking the “Privacy Settings” link in the footer of every page of our site. These “Privacy Settings” allow you to withdraw your consent to placing cookies, or object to the use of data collected by cookies under the legitimate interests option.
Making a choice about personalised advertising does not mean you will not see advertising. You may still see advertising that has been tailored to your interests or advertising that is intended for Guardian readers in general. When you choose advertising which is not personalised to you, that may reduce the number of advertising partners with whom we share your data, or reduce the relevance of advertising tailored for you.
You can switch some cookies off through the Your Online Choices site. You may need to do this again each time you use a different IP address, device, or virtual private network. You can also adjust the global privacy setting or plug-in which should be communicated to use via your browser.
It is also possible to stop your browser from accepting cookies altogether by changing your browser’s cookie settings. You can usually find these settings in the “options” or “preferences” menu of your browser. If you stop your browser from accepting cookies altogether, some features on our site may not work as well as you expect. Please note that searching in incognito mode or regularly clearing your cookies may reset your cookie settings.
The following links may be helpful, or you can use the “Help” option in your browser.
If you are a California or US resident
If you are located in the US, please use the “California resident – Do Not Sell button” instead, which you can find in the footer of every page on our site.
Useful links
If you would like to find out more about privacy, cookies and their use on the internet, you may find the following links useful:
If you would like to contact us about cookies please email dataprotection@theguardian.com.
Changes to this cookie policy to date
The most recent changes to this cookie policy were made on:
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9 February 2023
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13 July 2023 - General update
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13 December 2022 - Update to reflect changes to advertising partners
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19 August 2022
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8 October 2021
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20 August 2020
A list of all previous changes are available upon request.
