Privacy Policy

Effective Date: March 16, 2026  Â·  Last Updated: March 16, 2026

The Democratic Times ("we," "us," or "our") operates the website located at thedemocratictimes.com. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect information when you visit our site.

1. Information We Collect

We do not require you to create an account or submit personal information to read our content. However, certain information may be collected automatically when you visit the site:

• Usage Data: Pages visited, time spent on pages, browser type, operating system, referring URL, and IP address — collected automatically by our hosting provider (Netlify) and analytics tools.
• Cookies: Small text files placed on your device by our site and third-party services (see Section 3).
• Location Data: If you grant browser permission, we use your approximate location solely to display local weather. We do not store or transmit your location data to our servers.
• Poll Votes: If you participate in a reader poll, your vote is stored locally in your browser's localStorage. We do not transmit or store poll votes on our servers.

2. How We Use Information

• To display relevant weather information based on your location (if permission granted)
• To improve site performance and user experience
• To serve relevant advertising through Google AdSense
• To understand how visitors interact with our content

3. Cookies and Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services that may set cookies on your device:

• Google AdSense: We display advertisements served by Google AdSense. Google may use cookies (including the DoubleClick cookie) to serve ads based on your prior visits to our site and other sites on the internet. You can opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings.
• Google Subscribe with Google (SWG): We use Google's reader engagement tools. This service may set cookies related to your Google account status.
• YouTube Embeds: Our Video News section loads content from YouTube, which may set cookies when you interact with video players.
• Unsplash: Article thumbnail images are served from Unsplash's CDN (images.unsplash.com).
• Netlify: Our hosting provider may collect server logs including IP addresses and access times.

You can control or disable cookies through your browser settings. Note that disabling cookies may affect the functionality of some features on our site.

4. Content Aggregation

The Democratic Times aggregates news headlines, excerpts, and summaries from publicly available RSS feeds published by third-party news organizations. We link to original source articles and credit all publishers. We do not claim ownership of third-party content. If you are a publisher and have concerns about content displayed on our site, please contact us at the address below.

5. Third-Party Links

Our site contains links to external news sources and publishers. Once you follow a link to an external site, this Privacy Policy no longer applies. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party sites you visit.

6. Children's Privacy

The Democratic Times is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately.

7. Data Retention

We do not maintain a database of user information. Server access logs maintained by Netlify are retained according to Netlify's own data retention policies. Poll votes and location preferences are stored only in your browser's local storage and are never transmitted to us.

8. Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have rights to access, correct, or delete personal data held about you. Since we do not collect personal data directly, most requests should be directed to the third-party services listed above. For questions, contact us at the address below.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated effective date. Continued use of the site after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

10. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:
The Democratic Times
Email: contact@thedemocratictimes.com
Website: thedemocratictimes.com