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Privacy Policy

This page explains how ChapterBrief (“we”) handles information from readers who visit our site.

Information we collect

We collect only what the site needs to run and pay for itself:

  • Usage analytics: we use Google Analytics 4 to see which articles are read, how readers find us, and roughly where our audience is. It records pages viewed, referrer, device and browser type and approximate location; Google does not give us your IP address or name. How cookies are used depends on where you are, see Cookies and consent below.
  • Page view counts (no cookies): to see which articles help readers, each page sends us one small note when you leave it: the page address (without anything after a ? or #), how long the tab was in view (up to 30 minutes), how far down the page you scrolled (in steps of 0, 25, 50, 75, 90 or 100%), whether the screen is phone-sized or larger, the kind of site that sent you (a search engine, a social site, an AI assistant, another ChapterBrief page, none, or other; never the address of that site) and how many links to other ChapterBrief pages you clicked. If you come back to the tab and leave again, the note is updated instead of counted twice. We add the notes into daily totals per page and keep only those totals. We do not store your IP address, your browser details, a cookie or any ID, so the totals cannot be linked to you or to your other visits. Your browser type is checked only to skip search engine robots and is not saved. Because nothing is stored on your device, this counting runs for every visitor, including if you decline cookies.
  • Advertising: ads are served by Google AdSense. Google and its partners use cookies or similar identifiers to show ads based on your visits to this and other sites and to measure them. You can turn off personalised ads in Google's Ads Settings; see also how Google uses information from sites that use its services.
  • Saved articles: if you bookmark articles, they are stored in your browser's local storage only. We never see or store this data on our servers.
  • Comments and newsletter sign-ups: articles end with a comment box and an email sign-up form. What each one keeps is described under Comments and Newsletter below.
  • Contact messages: if you email us, we store your email address and message solely to respond to your enquiry.

Comments

Comments are optional and you don't need an account. If you comment, we store your name, the text you wrote, the article and the time, and keep the comment visible once we've reviewed it. You may add an email address; we never show it.

To fight spam we also keep a hashed form of your IP address, your browser's user-agent and how long the form took to fill in. These are deleted after 30 days.

We read every comment before it appears and delete ads and link drops. Links in a published comment carry rel="ugc nofollow". To have a comment removed, email us at [email protected].

Spam protection uses Cloudflare Turnstile, which loads only when you start typing in the form.

Newsletter

The newsletter is opt-in. We send one confirmation email first, and nothing else arrives until you click the link in it.

We store your email address (and your name if you give it) plus the time and IP address of your confirmation, as proof that you asked to subscribe. We use them only to send this newsletter, at most once a week. Every email has a one-click unsubscribe link.

Sign-up uses Cloudflare Turnstile and our own mail server. The emails have no tracking pixels.

Cookies and consent

We use Google Consent Mode. If you visit from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, analytics and advertising cookies are off by default and a banner asks for your choice. Until you click Accept, and if you click Decline, Google Analytics sets no cookies and receives only anonymous, cookieless signals (for example, that a page was viewed), which cannot be tied to you. Clicking Accept turns on analytics and advertising cookies. In these regions Google AdSense also shows Google's own consent message, and the ads follow the choice you make there.

Elsewhere, analytics and advertising cookies are on by default and no banner is shown. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, or install Google's Analytics opt-out add-on.

Your choice is saved in your browser's local storage (key cookie-consent) so we don't ask again; clear site data to reset it. The site also stores your light/dark theme and saved articles in local storage; these never leave your browser.

Third-party services

Some articles embed videos or posts from YouTube (privacy-enhanced youtube-nocookie.com player), Reddit or X; those embeds are governed by the providers' own privacy policies. We also link to external platforms (Crunchyroll, WEBTOON, Lezhin, Tapas and publisher sites) that we do not control.

Links to Better World Books are affiliate links that go through our affiliate network, Impact (impact.com). When you click one, Impact and Better World Books may set cookies or similar identifiers to record that the visit came from ChapterBrief so we can be credited for a purchase. We receive only the click and sale totals per page, never your name, email or payment details. See the affiliate disclosure.

Data storage and sharing

Analytics data is processed by Google, and advertising data by Google and its ad partners, under their own privacy policies. Comments, newsletter sign-ups and contact emails are used only as described above. We do not sell or rent reader data.

Your rights

You have the right to request deletion of any data we hold that is tied to you. To make a request, contact us at the email address listed on our contact page. We will respond within 30 days.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the site evolves. Material changes will be noted on this page. Continued use of the site constitutes acceptance of the current policy.

Last updated: November 6, 2026 (Google AdSense replaces HilltopAds as advertising partner). Earlier changes: comments and newsletter sections on November 4, and cookieless page view counts on November 3, 2026.

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