Cookies Policy

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The Economist Group’s Cookie Policy
This policy applies to The Economist Group and explains how we use cookies and similar technologies on our web and app services to make them more secure, personalised and streamlined. This policy should be read in conjunction with The Group’s privacy policy. “The Economist Group” means The Economist Newspaper Limited and its subsidiary companies. This policy refers to these technologies as “cookies” for ease of understanding except where we are referring to a specific type of technology. 

1. What is a cookie and why do we use them?

A cookie is a small file that can be placed on your device when you visit a website or app.  We use cookies on our websites, and similar technologies on our apps, for a range of purposes depending on how you interact with our products. The purposes of these cookies include, but are not limited to, the following;

  • To remember you and keep you logged into your account;

  • To deliver personalised content to you and provide benefits as part of your subscription like gifting and saving articles;

  • To analyse audience trends in order to understand how you use our websites and apps, for instance how long you stay on a specific web page like an Economist news article and which content you most enjoy reading;

  • To deliver marketing and personalised advertising;

  • To process your subscription payments; and

  • To help us mitigate any technical issues you may experience.

We also use technologies that are similar to cookies including trackers, server-side scripts, pixels and site tags. Pixels or tags can be used to retrieve information including your device type, operating system, IP address and time of visit. They are sometimes used to create or access the cookies on your browser, but are not cookies themselves. 

2. Do cookies collect personal information?

Sometimes. Some cookies are ‘online identifiers’. This means that those cookies can identify an individual user and will likely process ‘personal data’ as defined by the United Kingdom’s General Data Protection Regulation (the ‘UK GDPR’). Where we use cookies that act as online identifiers, we will identify a lawful basis to process your personal data. Generally, the lawful bases on which we rely to process your personal data collected through cookies will be:

i) consent; or
ii) performance of a contract we have with you; or 
iii) on the basis of our legitimate interests. 

Depending on where in the world you access our services, these bases may be different and will be identified in the consent management banner or tool you are served. You can change your preferences at any time in the Manage Cookies section of our websites and Settings in our apps.

3. How long do cookies last on your device?

Website cookies have expiration dates that determine how long they remain in your browser. Generally, depending on how long they stay on your device, cookies will be either:

Session cookies - these are temporary cookies that expire (and are automatically erased) whenever you close your browser. For example, we use session cookies to grant access to content and enable commenting (things you have to log in to do).

Persistent cookies - these are stored on your device in between browsing sessions and have an expiration date. This means they only stay in your browser until they expire or until you manually delete them. For example, we use persistent functional cookies to ensure that we do not continuously show you the cookie banner when you’ve already made your choice. We also use persistent cookies to better understand how you use our sites so that we can improve those sites for you. 

Other technologies used in our apps

If you consume our services on our apps, we may collect tracking data to enable us to understand how you use our services. You can control tracking technologies in your device’s operating system’s settings.

4. What types of cookies do we use and why?

We group cookies into the following five categories:

Essential or strictly necessary - these are required for the regular operation of our websites and apps. For example, some cookies allow us to ensure that people can access the subscription pages in the correct region and language for them, access our log-in pages, or carry out fraud detection and security checks. These are essential for our platforms to work properly. We don’t need your consent to use these.

Functional - these remember your preferences, and are intended to make your experience on our platforms more seamless. For example, a functional cookie is used to remember your log-in details. This makes it possible for users and subscribers to return to our sites without having to log in every time. For example, the cookies that we use to run our chatbot are functional. Depending on where in the world you access our apps and websites, we may need your consent to use these.

Analytics – these are used for performance measurement to understand how many people visit our websites and apps, how they navigate those platforms, and what content they consume (eg, Google Analytics and other analytics cookies). This allows us to improve your experience and assists with our product development. Full details of the cookies we use for analytics purposes can be found below. Depending on where in the world you access our apps and websites, we may need your consent to use these. We also collect aggregated data using Google Analytics on the basis of our legitimate interests so we can better understand our audiences: we offer users the ability to opt out of this function. 

Advertising - they enable us and our advertising partners to serve you with relevant advertising. In some cases, this will be through behavioural advertising. You might see these advertisements on our sites including economist.com or on other websites or apps that you visit. These cookies or similar technologies record your visit to our website or app, and the content you interact with, and may also be used to manage the number of times that you see an advertisement. They may be placed by us, or by advertising partners with your permission.

Please be aware that where you do not consent to the use of advertising cookies, or opt out of them depending on where in the world you are, you may still be served with advertising; this advertising just won’t be personalised to you.

What is personalised advertising and how do we use cookie technology for behavioural advertising?

Personalised and behavioural advertising helps us to serve you with relevant advertisements based on your web-browsing behaviour. We use cookies to analyse the type of content you read to provide you with content relevant to your interests. Depending on where in the world you are, we may need your consent to serve you with personalised advertising. If you do not consent, or you opt out, you will still receive advertising but it will not be targeted.

We also use third-party cookies from our trusted partners to understand the types of people who access our content so we can target advertising to them. 

Marketing - these enable us to track your online activity to help us deliver Economist Group advertising and to limit how many times you see these adverts. Depending on where in the world you access our apps and websites, we may need your consent to use these.

What are first- and third-party cookies?

There are first-party cookies that are set by us when you visit our websites. Only we can read these cookies.

There are also third-party cookies, or similar technologies, that are set by other companies when you use our websites or apps.

We restrict the use of third-party cookies to trusted partners of The Economist Group. For example, for the Economist website we currently allow partner technologies including:

  • JW Player, YouTube, Brightcove for our multimedia platform, and Google Ad Manager and Doubleclick (Google) for our advertising platform;

  • We also use third-party information from third-party sources to enable us to deliver advertising, including from our partners Outbrain and Live Ramp. Establishing a particular audience demographic allows us to target advertising based on browsing behaviour stored in a cookie and/or pixel. These sources are validated by the third party, not by us.

5. How can I change my cookie preferences?

You can change your cookie consent preferences at any time via the Manage Cookies links at the bottom of all Economist Group website pages or in the Settings functions of our apps.

Depending on where in the world you access our services, you will either need to opt in, or opt out of, some cookies. In some cases, we may process aggregated usage data collected from these cookies to further our legitimate interests in understanding audience patterns. Please note that we are not responsible for the content (including cookies) on external websites. 

The following websites provide some useful information on how to manage your browser and other settings, as well as about your rights under data protection and privacy regulations.

http://www.youronlinechoices.eu  if you are based in the EU; or
http://www.aboutads.info/choices/  if you are based in the US.

To opt out of cookies from Google: https://www.google.com/settings/ads
If you want to delete or disable other cookies, see: http://www.allaboutcookies.org

Frequently Asked Questions

Will I be able to access content if I disable cookies?
You can still browse our sites if you have disabled the use of cookies, although some functions may not work. For example, if you choose not to allow cookies when you first visit our websites and/or subsequently opt out of cookies, we’ll be unable to recognise you when you come back to the site. This means, for example, that you’ll be asked again to set your cookie preferences. Similarly, if you do not consent to, or  opt out of, analytics cookies, we will not be able to personalise our services and products to you.

How long will cookies last for?
We limit the lifetime of our cookies to a maximum of 12 months, as required by law. You will be asked about your cookie preferences no later than 12 months since the last time we asked you. 

If I do not consent to cookies, will I still see advertisements?
Yes, but these will no longer be personalised to you or based on your browsing behaviours. 

Can I use the Global Privacy Control?
Yes, if you access our services and products in the United States, we honour the privacy settings you exercise using the Global Privacy Control in your browser settings.

Changes to this policy
This policy was last updated in January 2024. From time to time, we may make changes to this policy. This may reflect changes in the law, best practice or changes in our services. These changes will be reflected in this statement, so you should check this policy from time to time. Where the changes are significant, we will notify our customers directly.

How to contact us?
For more information about how we use cookies and similar technologies, please contact us at [email protected]