BuzzFeed
- The documents do not say whether your data trains AI.
- Your data is used for personalized ads, including by third-party ad companies.
- Data is shared with partners and affiliates; you can opt out.
- The documents do not say who can read your content.
BuzzFeed collects browsing, ads, and profile data, shares it with ad partners, and lets U.S. users opt out of sale.
Agent Trust Hub uses AI and may make mistakes. Review reports and confirm their contents before relying on them.
Collected
Account info, posts, device IDs, cookies, IP location, purchases, and data from ad and social partners.
Read the exact line
Privacy policy
“When you access or use the Services, we use cookies and similar technologies that collect information about your browser and device:”
Training
They personalize content, infer your interests, and use your data for ads on BuzzFeed and other sites.
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Privacy policy
“Creating and updating profiles and audience segments that can be used for analytics, interested-based advertising and marketing on the Services, and on websites, mobile apps and other platforms”
Sharing
Vendors, BuzzFeed companies, and advertising partners can get your data, including hashed email.
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Privacy policy
“With Advertising Partners to customize your experience and better tailor the services, products, marketing and advertising on our Services and on their Third Party Sites.”
Kept
They keep personal data as long as they need it for the reasons they collected it.
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Privacy policy
“We keep your personal data for as long as we need it for the purposes for which it was collected.”
Controls
You can unsubscribe from marketing, use cookie settings, and or a sale opt-out.
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Privacy policy
“If you would like to have us delete your personal data, you can choose from the following options:”
Fine print
They say they will update the policy date and notify you of big changes; real terms of service are missing.
Read the exact line
Privacy policy
“We’re likely to update this Privacy Policy in the future and when we make changes, we will revise the date at the top of the policy.”
Expand “Read the exact line” to see the source alongside the explanation.
What you can turn off
The controls and opt-outs their own documents describe, and where they say to find them.
Opt out of sale or sharing for ads
“Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” page, or data-privacy@buzzfeed.com
of your data
https://www.buzzfeed.com/settings, the rights request form, or data-privacy@buzzfeed.com
Change cookie and ad-partner consent
Consent preferences center linked from the Cookie policy
Unsubscribe from marketing emails
Unsubscribe link in messages, or data-privacy@buzzfeed.com
If a switch is not where they say, the deletion request above still applies.
Line by line
The lines that matter most, worst first.
They track what you do on other sites, not just on BuzzFeed.
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Privacy policy
“We also may use these technologies to collect data about your online activities over time and across third-party websites or other online services (behavioral tracking).”
For example, ads you see later may be based on pages you visited after leaving BuzzFeed.
They give ad companies a coded version of your email so they can target you.
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Privacy policy
“We may also share information about you along with a hashed version of your email address with our Advertising Partners so that they and we can facilitate customized ad campaigns”
For example, an advertiser could match your hashed email to an account they already have and show you ads.
They guess what you like, and may guess about people who live with you too.
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Privacy policy
“Make inferences about your interests and preferences (including at a household level).”
For example, quizzes you take could be used to assume interests for your whole household.
Surveys can ask about race, religion, politics, or sexual orientation.
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Privacy policy
“When we conduct research or carry out surveys and you participate in our research or surveys, we may collect sensitive personal data”
For example, a quiz or survey could collect that you are a certain religion if you choose to answer.
In the U.S. you can tell them not to sell or share your data for targeted ads.
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Privacy policy
“You have the right to opt-out of the “sale” of your personal data, or the “sharing” of your personal data for interest-based or other targeted advertising”
For example, you can use their Do Not Sell or Share page so partners get less tracking data.
There is no set time when they must delete your data.
Read the exact line
Privacy policy
“We keep your personal data for as long as we need it for the purposes for which it was collected.”
For example, old browsing and profile data could stay until they decide they no longer need it.
Big privacy changes should be announced, but the policy text has no date.
Read the exact line
Privacy policy
“When we make significant changes, will notify you through the Services, such as on our homepage, or via email or other communication.”
For example, a new ad-sharing practice might appear as a homepage notice.
You can ask them to delete your data in settings, a form, or by email.
Read the exact line
Privacy policy
“If you would like to have us delete your personal data, you can choose from the following options:Make the deletion request in your account settings at https://www.buzzfeed.com/settings”
For example, you can open buzzfeed.com/settings and of your account data.
They say they need your okay before giving your data to others for marketing emails.
Read the exact line
Privacy policy
“We will ask for your consent before we share your personal data with any third party for direct marketing purposes.”
For example, they should not hand your email to another brand for newsletters unless you agree.
If you click out to another site, their rules apply, not BuzzFeed’s.
Read the exact line
Privacy policy
“This Privacy Policy does not apply to any third parties you may interact with through our Services.”
For example, buying something after an affiliate link is covered by that shop’s privacy policy.
Words to know
Legal words from the lines above, in plain English.
- cookies
- Small files a website saves on your device so it can recognise you and remember what you did. For example, a cookie keeps you logged in and can also tell an ad company which sites you visited.
- third parties
- Any company or person other than you and the app, such as advertisers, partners or analytics firms. For example, an analytics company that receives a record of every screen you tap is a third party.
- personal data
- Any information that is about you or can be linked to you, from your name to your phone's ID. For example, your email, your IP address and the list of apps on your phone are all personal data.
- profiling
- Building a picture of who you are, what you like and what you might do next from your data. For example, an app may guess your income, health or politics from what you watch and tap.
- sensitive personal information
- Data that could hurt you if exposed, like health, religion, sexuality, race, exact location or bank details. For example, telling a chatbot about a medical condition creates sensitive data that some laws protect more strictly.
- opt out
- Something is on by default and stays on until you find the setting and turn it off. For example, your chats may be used for training unless you go into settings and switch it off.
- sell or share
- Under California law, selling means passing your data to others for money or other value; sharing means passing it on for targeted ads. For example, letting an ad network use your browsing history in return for ad space counts as a sale.
- targeted advertising
- Ads chosen for you based on what you have done across other apps and websites, not just this one. For example, you look at shoes in one app and see shoe ads in a totally different app the next day.
- consent
- Your clear agreement to something, given by an action like ticking a box or tapping Accept. For example, a pop-up asking if the app may use your location is asking for consent.
How we got here · grade F · score 24/100 · 15 of 15 policy answers backed by a verified quote · 9 not stated
What does the app collect beyond what it needs to work?
They collect account and content data plus device IDs, cookies, IP-based location, browsing across sites, partner and purchase data, and sometimes survey answers about sensitive topics.
Does it record your voice, face or body, and what happens to that?
Not stated in the documents.
Are your chats and uploads used to train AI models, and is that off by default?
Not stated in the documents.
Can employees or contractors read your conversations, and when?
Not stated in the documents.
Are you profiled or tracked for advertising?
They and advertising partners use cookies and matching to target ads on BuzzFeed and other sites.
Do they sell or share your data, and can you opt out?
They share data with ad partners and treat some sharing as a sale; U.S. users can opt out.
What rights do they take over what you type and what the AI makes?
Not stated in the documents.
How long do they keep your data after you delete it, and can you delete it in the app?
They keep data as long as needed. You can request deletion in settings, a form, or by email; no 30- or 90-day wipe is promised.
Does it build a lasting memory or profile of you, and can you see, edit or turn it off?
They build interest profiles and audience segments, including household-level inferences, without describing a memory off-switch.
Do they commit to basic security, and have they leaked data?
Not stated in the documents.
Is there a real age gate, and are teens protected?
Not stated in the documents.
Will they tell you when the rules change, and is the policy specific?
They say they will change the date at the top and notify you of significant changes, but this copy has no date.
Can they close your account without warning, and can you get your data out first?
Not stated in the documents.
If something goes wrong, who pays?
Not stated in the documents.
Do subscriptions renew on their own, and can you get a refund?
Not stated in the documents.
The privacy policy is 7,236 words at a professional or legal expert level (Flesch reading ease 29.9); the terms are 183 words at a fairly hard level.
