Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

PoliticPulse ("we", "us", or "our") operates the PoliticPulse website. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal information when you use our service. We are committed to compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

2. Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of personal data:

• Account information: When you register, we collect your name and email address via our authentication provider.
• Comments: Any comments you post on our platform are stored in our database.
• Usage data: We may collect anonymised analytics data about how you use our website, including pages visited and time spent.
• Cookie data: We use cookies as described in Section 5 below.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your personal data to: provide and maintain our service; allow you to post comments and participate in discussions; send you service-related notifications; improve our website through analytics; comply with legal obligations; and display relevant advertising through Google AdSense (subject to your cookie consent).

4. Legal Basis for Processing

We process your personal data on the following legal bases: Contract — to provide the service you have signed up for; Legitimate interests — to improve our service and prevent abuse; Consent — for advertising cookies and analytics where you have given explicit consent.

5. Cookies

We use the following types of cookies: Strictly necessary cookies — required for the website to function (e.g., session cookies). These do not require consent. Analytics cookies — used to understand how visitors use our site. Advertising cookies — used by Google AdSense to serve relevant advertisements. You can manage your cookie preferences at any time via the cookie consent banner.

6. Third-Party Services

We use Google AdSense to display advertisements. Google may use cookies and similar technologies to serve ads based on your prior visits. You can opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ad Settings. News content is sourced from third-party RSS feeds; we do not control the privacy practices of those publishers.

7. Data Retention

We retain your account data for as long as your account is active. Comments are retained unless you request deletion. You may request deletion of your data at any time by contacting us.

8. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to: access your personal data; rectify inaccurate data; erase your data ("right to be forgotten"); restrict processing; data portability; and object to processing. To exercise these rights, contact us at the address below.

9. Contact

For privacy-related enquiries, please contact us via our Contact page. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.