Last updated: October 2020
- About Verizon Media
Verizon Media, previously known as Oath, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Verizon. We serve our consumers, partners, advertisers and talent through our portfolio of digital platforms, products and services offered under our AOL, Yahoo and other brands.
We provide control tools to help you manage your experience with us. If you have an existing Yahoo or AOL account, you will need to agree to this Privacy Policy. If you have not yet agreed to this Privacy Policy, the legacy Yahoo Privacy Policy or legacy Oath Privacy Policy (for AOL) still apply to your account. For Verizon Media products or services that are accessed without signing in to an account, this Privacy Policy applies to those products and services as of May 25, 2018. If you are creating a new account, the terms below apply starting today.
- Except as set out elsewhere in this Privacy Policy, when we refer to ‘Verizon Media’, it means Oath, Inc., the US-established company that supplies the Services to you (and acts as data controller of the personal data Verizon Media collects when you use those Services).
- Our Privacy Pledge
Our commitment is to put users first. We strive to be transparent about how we collect and use your information, to keep your information secure and to provide you meaningful choices.
This Privacy Policy is meant to help you understand what information Verizon Media, its affiliates and its house of global brands (“Verizon Media,” “us,” “our” or “we”) collect, why we collect it and what we do with it. This policy applies to Verizon Media brands, websites, apps, advertising services, products, services or technologies (we’ll collectively refer to these as “Services”). Additional privacy practices for certain Services can be found in Details for Specific Products and Services.
- Your Controls
We believe you should have tools to control your information. You can find controls to manage or review your account information, marketing preferences, location data, and search history at Privacy Controls. Some of our Services provide additional controls and privacy practices. (See, Details for Specific Products and Services)
- Information Collection and Use - General
Certain categories of information collected by Verizon Media are necessary to use our Services, such as the information you must provide when registering for some Services. We may collect and combine information when you interact with Verizon Media Services information outlined below:
Information You Provide to Us. We may collect the information that you provide to us, such as:
When you create an account with an Verizon Media Service or brand. (Please note, when you use our Services, we may recognize you or your devices even if you are not signed in to our Services.) Verizon Media may use device IDs, cookies, and other signals, including information obtained from third parties, to associate accounts and/or devices with you.
When you use our Services to communicate with others or post, upload or store content (such as comments, photos, voice inputs, videos, emails, messaging services and attachments).
Verizon Media analyzes and stores all communications content, including email content from incoming and outgoing mail. This allows us to deliver, personalize and develop relevant features, content, advertising and Services.
When you otherwise use our Services, such as title queries, watch history, page views, search queries, view the content we make available or install any Verizon Media software such as plugins.
When you sign up for paid Services, use Services that require your financial information or complete transactions with us or our business partners, we may collect your payment and billing information.
Device Information. We collect information from your devices (computers, mobile phones, tablets, etc.), including information about how you interact with our Services and those of our third-party partners and information that allows us to recognize and associate your activity across devices and Services. This information includes device specific identifiers and information such as IP address, cookie information, mobile device and advertising identifiers, browser version, operating system type and version, mobile network information, device settings, and software data. We may recognize your devices to provide you with personalized experiences and advertising across the devices you use.
Location Information. We collect location information from a variety of sources. You can learn more about and manage your location permissions on our Locations page and by visiting the location settings tool on your devices.
Information from Cookies and Other Technologies.
We collect information when you access content, advertising, sites, interactive widgets, applications, and other products (both on and off of our Services) where Verizon Media data collection technologies (such as web beacons, development tools, cookies and other technologies, etc.) are present. These data collection technologies allow us to understand your activity on and off our Services and to collect and store information when you interact with Services we offer to partners.
This information also includes the kind of content or ads served, viewed or clicked on; the frequency and duration of your activities; the sites or apps you used before accessing our Services and where you went next; whether you engaged with specific content or ads; and whether you went on to visit an advertiser's website, downloaded an advertiser’s app, purchased a product or service advertised, or took other actions.
Information from Others. We collect information about you when we receive it from other users, third-parties, and affiliates, such as:
When you connect your account to third-party services or sign in using a third-party partner (like Facebook or Twitter).
From publicly-available sources.
From advertisers about your experiences or interactions with their offerings.
When we obtain information from third-parties or other companies, such as those that use our Services. This may include your activity on other sites and apps as well as information those third-parties provide to you or us.
We may also receive information from Verizon and will honor the choices Verizon customers have made about the uses of this information when we receive and use this data.
- How We Use This Information
We are able to deliver, personalize, and improve our Services by combining and using the information we have about you (including information we receive on and off our Services) to understand how you use and interact with our Services and the people or things you’re connected to and interested in. We also may use the information we have about you for the following purposes:
Provide, maintain, improve, and develop relevant features, content, and Services.
Analyze your content and other information (including emails, instant messages, posts photos, attachments, and other communications). You can review and control certain types of information tied to your Verizon Media account by using Privacy Controls.
Fulfill your requests and when authorized by you.
Help advertisers and publishers connect to offer relevant advertising in their apps and websites.
Match and serve targeted advertising (across devices and both on and off of our Services) and provide targeted advertising based on your device activity, inferred interests and location information.
Contact you with information about your account or with marketing messages, which you can also control.
Associate your activity across our Services and your different devices as well as associate any accounts you may use across Verizon Media Services together. We may associate activity and accounts under a single user ID.
Carry out or support promotions.
Conduct research and support innovation.
Create analytics and reports for external parties, including partners, publishers, advertisers, apps, third-parties and the public regarding the use of and trends within our Services and ads, including showing trends to partners regarding general preferences, the effectiveness of ads and information on user experiences. These analytics and reports may include aggregate or pseudonymized information.
Provide location-based Services, advertising, search results, and other content consistent with your location settings.
Combine information we have about you with information we obtain from business partners or other companies, such as your activities on other sites and apps.
Detect and defend against fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful activity.
We provide you with controls to manage your experience with us. For example, you can review or edit your account information, manage your marketing preferences, or opt out of targeted ads. If you opt out, you will continue to see ads, but they may not be as relevant or useful to you.
- If you are located in the European Union or European Economic Area or in the UK (EU/EEA/UK), please see Section 10 “Our Legal Bases for Processing Information” for more information that applies to your use of our Services.
- How We Share This Information
Verizon Media shares information within its affiliated brands and companies and with Verizon. We also share information we have about you for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, including to provide Services that you have requested (including when you connect with third-party apps and widgets). We do not sell, license or share information that individually identifies our customers with companies, organizations or individuals outside of Verizon Media unless one of the following circumstances applies:
With Your Consent. We will share information with companies, organizations or individuals outside of Verizon Media when we have your consent.
With Verizon. As part of Verizon, Verizon Media and its affiliates may, to the extent permitted by law and consistent with user controls, share information with Verizon and Verizon affiliates. This information will be used consistent with Verizon’s privacy policy.
Within Verizon Media. Information may also be shared within Verizon Media, including with other Verizon Media Services and affiliates. Verizon Media affiliates may use the information in a manner consistent with their privacy policies.
With Partners. We may share your information with nonaffiliated companies who are:
Trusted Partners. We provide user information to trusted partners who work on behalf of or with Verizon Media based on our directions and in compliance with appropriate confidentiality measures. Learn more.
Advertising, Analytics and Business Partners (Limited to Non-Personally Identifiable Information). We may share aggregated or pseudonymous information (including demographic information) with partners, such as publishers, advertisers, measurement analytics, apps, or other companies. For example, we may tell an advertiser how its ads performed or report how many people installed an app after seeing a promotion. We do not share information that personally identifies you (personally identifiable information is information like name or email address) with these partners, such as publishers, advertisers, measurement analytics, apps, or other companies.
When you use third-party apps, websites or other products integrated with our Services, they may collect information about your activities subject to their own terms and privacy policies.
We allow other companies that show advertisements on our webpages or apps to collect information from your browsers or devices. Other companies' use of cookies and other data collection technologies are subject to their own privacy policies, not this one. Like many companies, we may allow cookie matching with select partners. But, these parties are not authorized to access Verizon Media cookies.
For Legal and Other Purposes. We may access, preserve and disclose information to investigate, prevent, or take action in connection with: (i) legal process and legal requests; (ii) enforcement of the Terms; (iii) claims that any content violates the rights of third-parties; (iv) requests for customer service; (v) technical issues; (vi) protecting the rights, property or personal safety of Verizon Media, its users or the public; (vii) establishing or exercising our legal rights or defending against legal claims; or (viii) as otherwise required by law.
This may include responding to lawful governmental requests. Learn more about how we evaluate and respond to these requests.
New Ownership. If the ownership or control of all or part of Verizon, Verizon Media or a specific Services changes as a result of a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, we may transfer your information to the new owner.
- Details for Specific Products and Services
Additional privacy practices for certain Verizon Media Services are included here.
- Information Security and Data Retention
Verizon Media has technical, administrative and physical safeguards in place to help protect against unauthorized access, use or disclosure of customer information we collect or store.
To learn more about security, including the steps we have taken and steps you can take, please read Security at Verizon Media.
- Protecting Children’s Privacy
Our Services are for a general audience. We do not knowingly collect, use, or share information that could reasonably be used to identify children under age 13 without prior parental consent or consistent with applicable law. With parental permission, a child under age 13 might have an Verizon Media Family Account. Visit Children's Privacy & Family Accounts to learn more about children’s privacy at Verizon Media.
Our Legal Bases for Processing Information. We mainly rely on three separate bases to lawfully process your information. First, we need to process your information in certain ways to provide our services to you, in accordance with our Terms of Service. This processing is necessary to perform the contract between you and us. Second, where you have given us consent to use your information in certain ways, we will rely on your consent. Third, in certain cases, we may process your information where necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of third parties, where those legitimate interests are not overridden by your rights or interests. Occasionally, Verizon Media may rely on other legal bases to process your information, such as to protect a user’s vital interests (such as where there is a risk of imminent harm) or to comply with a legal obligation. Please see our Legal bases page for more information.
Data Processing and Transfers
When you use or interact with any of our Services, you consent to the data processing, sharing, transferring and uses of your information as outlined in this Privacy Policy. Regardless of the country where you reside, you authorize us to transfer, process, store and use your information in countries other than your own in accordance with this Privacy Policy and to provide you with Services. Some of these countries may not have the same data protection safeguards as the country where you reside.
Verizon Media processes information related to individuals in the EU/EEA/UK and transfers that information from the EU/EEA/UK through various compliance mechanisms, including data processing agreements based on the European Commission’sA Standard Contractual Clauses. By using our Services, you consent to us transferring information about you to these countries. For more information, please visit our Data Transfer page.
The United States and other non-EU/EEA/UK countries have different laws on data protection and rules in relation to government access to information. If you are based in the EU/EEA/UK, when your data is moved from your home country to a third country outside the EU/EEA/UK, some of these countries may not have the same data protection safeguards as your home country.
- Other Important Information
This Privacy Policy Applies Only to Verizon Media. This Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of companies that Verizon Media does not own or control, or to people that Verizon Media does not employ or manage. In addition, some affiliated products may have different privacy policies and practices that are not subject to this Privacy Policy.
- Changes
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, so you should check it periodically. If we make changes that are material we will provide you with appropriate notice before such changes take effect.
- Questions & Suggestions
If you have questions, suggestions, or wish to make a complaint, please complete a feedback form or you can contact us at:
Verizon Media
Customer Care - Privacy Policy Issues
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089If you wish to contact our Data Protection Officer, you can do so by post to: Attn: Data Protection Officer, Verizon Media EMEA, 5-7 Point Square, North Wall Quay, Dublin 1, Ireland.
Our Article 27 Representative can be contacted by email at GDPRrepresentative@mhc.ie, or by post at:
MHC GDPR Representative
Mason Hayes and Curran Professional Services Limited
South Bank House
Barrow Street
Dublin 4
Ireland
Tel: +353 1 614 5000
Recent Versions
May 2018 - update to privacy notice;
October 2019 - Oath to Verizon Media name change
- October 2020 - updates to data transfers and legal bases
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What's a cookie?
So your antivirus software does little-to-nothing to protect against malicious cookies. However, there are at least two things you can do to protect yourself against becoming a victim of cookie fraud: Keep your browser up to date. Many cookie exploits are designed to take advantage of security holes in outdated browsers. The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) replaces the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and was designed to harmonise data privacy laws across Europe, to protect and empower all EU citizens data privacy and to reshape the way organisations across the region approach data privacy. To comply with new EU regulations, which come into force on May 25th 2018, Delia Online. How to protect your privacy with third party cookies In order to enjoy some of the conveniences of the modern day internet you’re going to have to put up with some cookies. Many sites use third party cookies as a way to boost their revenue, so it’s likely they’ll block you from seeing content until you accept third party cookies.
If you've been anywhere on the internet, you've probably heard of cookies (also known as computer cookies or HTTP cookies). These are small files that websites want to put on your computer and store in your web browser.
But should you accept or block cookies?
Cookies don't infect your computer with malicious software or viruses. They're basically just text files to be read by whatever website or third party put them there. They have a range of uses, some you may like more than others.
The good news is it's not an all-or-nothing affair. Most browsers let you control which kinds of cookies are allowed. Here's how to manage them in Google Chrome, Apple's Safari, and Microsoft Edge – the Windows 10 default browser that replaced Internet Explorer.
But before you decide, you need to understand what each type of cookie does.
First-party cookies
First-party cookies belong to the website you're currently on and don't track what you do on other websites.
There are two kinds of first-party cookies:
Session cookies
Cookie 5 9 – Protect Your Online Privacy Screens
These are short-lived and are usually deleted when your browser closes.
Without these cookies, every time you clicked a link – even to load a new page on the same website – it would forget you'd ever been there. For example, say you're shopping online and you add an item to your cart. If you then view another item on a different page, once the new page loads your cart would be empty because there'd be no way to track what you did previously.
Or perhaps a website asked you what language you'd prefer. Without session cookies, you'd have to re-select it with each new page.
Persistent cookies
These live on in your browser after it closes, but self-destruct after a predetermined time – usually within six months. If you ever asked a website to remember your login details, it did so with a first-party persistent cookie.
Persistent cookies may also be used to remember what you read or did while you were on the site, to avoid showing you the same content if you log back on later. While some persistent cookies are first-party, not all are.
Third-party cookies
These are also persistent. They're often used for tracking your movements to gain marketing or demographic data.
If you disable third-party cookies it'll make it harder for advertisers to get information about your online activity. You'll still see ads; they just probably won't be tailored to your interests.
Cookie 5 9 – Protect Your Online Privacy Fence
Third-party cookies have also been blamed for slowing down web page loading times. Some browsers, such as Safari and Firefox, block them by default. Others let you opt-out in their settings menu.
How to manage cookies in Google Chrome
At the top-right of a browser window, click the menu button (three vertical dots), then Settings. Scroll down and click Advanced.
In the Privacy and Security section, click Content Settings then Cookies. Turning cookies off completely would disable all the features we've talked about so far, not just the tracking ones. So it's advisable to not block them entirely.
If you enable Keep local data online until you quit your browser, you'll still be able to add items to a shopping cart, but every time you close your browser you'll lose things like automatic sign-ins on your favourite websites.
Block third-party cookies stops the marketing-led cookies that track your internet usage and patterns, while leaving the more-useful cookies running.
If you'd like a fresh start with your new cookie settings, you can delete all your current ones. Click See all cookies and site data, then Remove All.
How to manage cookies in Safari (on macOS)
Since a Safari update in 2017, third-party cookies are blocked by default.
To manage your cookie settings, open Safari and click the Safari menu at the top-left (next to the Apple menu) and select Preferences. In the following window, select Privacy.
Prevent cross-site tracking should be enabled by default. This stops third-party cookies that track you across websites for advertisers.
Ask websites not to track me requests websites to not use both third-party and first-party persistent cookies. It's up to the website to respect your request.
Block all cookies will stop third-party cookies, but also the first-party cookie features mentioned earlier.
To delete the cookies you already have, click Manage Website Data and select cookies from individual websites on the list and click Remove, or select Remove all to delete the lot.
How to manage cookies in Microsoft Edge
Click the ellipsis (…) icon at the top right and select Settings. Scroll down and under Advanced settings, select View advanced settings. Scroll down again and under Cookies there are three options: Block all cookies, Block only third party cookies and Don't block cookies.
Privacy And Services Cookies
If you want to stop other parties tracking your online activity, select Block only third party cookies. This should make it harder for targeted advertisers and data analytics firms to get information about you.
If you Block all cookies then none of the functions we mentioned earlier will work (auto login, adding items to a shopping cart, etc.) and some websites may become unusable.
To delete the cookies you already have, go to Settings then under Clear browsing data, click Choose what to clear. Make sure Cookies and saved website data is ticked, then hit Clear.