Privacy Policy
Last updated: October 20, 2026
The Prickled Herald is a satire website. We don't have user accounts, we don't sell anything, and we don't sell your information. Here's what happens when you visit.
What we collect
- Visit statistics. We count page views on our own servers (pages viewed, rough location such as country and city, device and browser type, and the site that sent you) so we know which stories people read. We also measure how long a story is read and how far down the page readers get, which links on our pages are clicked, and whether our share buttons are used. This counting doesn't use cookies and doesn't identify you personally. To tell new readers from returning ones, your browser keeps a small note (in its local storage, not a cookie) of how many days you've visited; it never leaves your device except as that number.
- Messages you send us. If you use the contact form, we receive your name, email address and message so we can read and reply to it.
- Newsletter signups. If you sign up for our weekly email, we keep your email address (and the page you signed up on) to send it to you. We may use an email service to do the sending; it receives only your address. Every email has an unsubscribe link, or ask us through the contact page to be removed.
Advertising
We use Google AdSense to show ads on this site. When ads are shown:
- Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or other websites.
- Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to this site and/or other sites on the Internet.
- You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings. You can also opt out of some third-party vendors' use of cookies for personalized advertising at aboutads.info.
- To learn more, see how Google uses information from sites that use its services.
Visitors in the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland are asked for consent before personalized ads or advertising cookies are used, through a consent message provided by Google. You can change your choice at any time through that message's settings link.
Cookies
Our own site doesn't set cookies for visitors (the only cookie we use is for our editors' sign-in). Advertising partners such as Google may set cookies as described above. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings.
What we don't do
- We don't sell, rent or trade your information.
- We don't share your contact form messages with advertisers.
Third-party services
Share buttons link to Facebook, X, Reddit and email. Those services have their own privacy policies and may see your visit when you use them.
Our TikTok connection
Our editors connect The Prickled Herald's own TikTok account to this site so we can send our video reels to it. This uses TikTok's Login Kit and Content Posting API, and only our editors can do it; readers never sign in with TikTok here.
- What we receive: the connected account's basic profile information (its TikTok ID and display name) and permission to upload videos to that account as drafts (the
user.info.basicandvideo.uploadpermissions). - How we use it: only to upload our own videos to our account's TikTok inbox as drafts. Nothing is published automatically; an editor reviews and posts each one in the TikTok app.
- What we don't do: we don't read anyone's TikTok videos, followers, messages or other data, and we don't share anything we receive from TikTok with anyone.
- Storage and removal: the access tokens TikTok gives us are stored on our servers and used only for these uploads. Disconnecting TikTok in our settings deletes them, and the account owner can also remove our access at any time in TikTok's settings.
Keeping and deleting your information
Contact form messages are kept only as long as we need them to respond. Visit statistics are deleted automatically after a year. To ask what we hold about you, or to have it deleted, send us a message through the contact page.
Your rights
Depending on where you live (for example California, the EU or the UK), you may have the right to access, correct or delete personal information, and to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information for advertising. We don't sell personal information. To make a request, use the contact page.
Children
This site isn't directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their information.
Changes
If this policy changes, we'll update the date at the top of this page.