Automattic

What are cookies?

Cookies are small pieces of data, stored in text files, that are stored on your computer or other device when websites are loaded in a browser. They are widely used to “remember” you and your preferences, either for a single visit (through a “session cookie”) or for multiple repeat visits (using a “persistent cookie”). They ensure a consistent and efficient experience for visitors, and perform essential functions such as allowing users to register and remain logged in. Cookies may be set by the site that you are visiting (known as “first party cookies”), or by third parties, such as those who serve content or provide advertising or analytics services on the website (“third party cookies”).

Both websites and HTML emails may also contain other tracking technologies such as “web beacons” or “pixels.” These are typically small transparent images that provide us with statistics, for similar purposes as cookies. They are often used in conjunction with cookies, though they are not stored on your computer in the same way. As a result, if you disable cookies, web beacons may still load, but their functionality will be restricted.

How we use cookies

We use cookies for a number of different purposes. Some cookies are necessary for technical reasons; some enable a personalized experience for both visitors and registered users; and some allow the display of advertising from selected third party networks. Some of these cookies may be set when a page is loaded, or when a visitor takes a particular action (clicking the “like” or “follow” button on a post, for example).

Many of the cookies we use are only set if you are a registered WordPress.com user (so you don’t have to log in every time, for example), while others are set whenever you visit one of our websites, irrespective of whether you have an account.

For more information on the choices you have about the cookies we use, please see the Controlling Cookies section below.

Where we place cookies

We set cookies in a number of different locations across our services. These include:

• On our websites (including automattic.com, wordpress.com, vip.wordpress.com, jetpack.com, woocommerce.com, crowdsignal.com, gravatar.com, intensedebate.com, vaultpress.com, akismet.com, simplenote.com, simperium.com, leandomainsearch.com, cloudup.com, longreads.com, and happy.tools).
• In the administrative dashboards of our websites, such as Calypso and wp-admin.
• On sites we host for our users.
• On sites that use our plugins (e.g. Jetpack).
• In the emails we send.

Types of Cookie

The table below explains the types of cookies we use on our websites and why we use them.

User Sites

In addition to the cookies set on our own sites, we utilize cookies for our Site Stats feature. This tallies the unique numbers of visitors to a site, as well as the number from specific geographic locations. A visitor is counted when we see a user or browser for the first time in a given period.

Examples

Below are examples of the cookies set by Automattic, with explanations of their purpose. Some of these cookies are set across our whole network, whereas some are specific to individual services (e.g. WordPress.com, Longreads, etc). Please note that this is not an exhaustive list, but rather aims to be representative. Information about cookies that may be set by third parties, such as our ads partners, is below. Additionally, we occasionally set referrer cookies on Jetpack connected sites, using WooCommerce.

In addition, people and companies that use our services to publish or host their own sites may place additional cookies. We provide more information on these cookies below.

Required

Analytics and Performance

Advertising

Please also see the section below on third party advertisements that you may see on our sites or sites that use our services.

Advertisements from Third Parties Through Automattic’s Ads Program

Our mission is to democratize publishing. So that we can offer free access to create a website using WordPress.com, we show ads on some of our users’ sites. Our users may also choose to place ads on their site through our ads program. Additionally, we also show ads from our ads program on some of our own websites (e.g. longreads.com), and in emails.

We operate our ads program in partnership with third party vendors. As part of the operation of our ads program, we use cookies to collect certain information. Advertising cookies enable us and our partners to serve ads and to personalize those ads based on information like visits to our sites and other sites on the Internet.

Below is a representative list of our advertising program partners, along with information on the cookies that that each partner sets. The partners we work with change from time to time, and this is not an exhaustive list. Your choices to control cookies related to our ads program are described below.

Below is a representative list of the cookies that may be set by our ads partners in connection with ads that appear in emails.

Visitors to Sites with Parse.ly installed

Below are examples of the cookies set for visitors to sites with the Parse.ly plugin installed.

Visitors to Sites with Jetpack installed

Below are examples of the cookies set for visitors to sites with the Jetpack plugin installed. For more details on the cookies set for administrators, please see https://jetpack.com/support/cookies/.

Jetpack Comments

Mobile Theme

Subscriptions

EU Cookie Law Banner

Please note that this section is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather aims to be representative, and that our users may set additional cookies (such as Google Analytics), depending on the features they have chosen to enable or the plugins they have installed.

Controlling Cookies

Visitors may wish to restrict the use of cookies or completely prevent them from being set. Most browsers provide for ways to control cookie behavior such as the length of time they are stored – either through built-in functionality or by utilizing third party plugins. If you disable cookies, please be aware that some of the features of our service may not function correctly.

To find out more on how to manage and delete cookies, visit aboutcookies.org. For more details on your choices regarding use of your web browsing activity for interest-based advertising you may visit the following sites:

• networkadvertising.org
• optout.aboutads.info 
• youradchoices.com
• youronlinechoices.eu

On a mobile device, you may also be to adjust your settings to limit tracking.  

Some analytics services we use, which place their own cookies or web tags on your browser, offer their own opt out choices. For example, you can opt out of Google Analytics by installing Google’s opt-out browser add-on, from Hotjar by using the Do Not Track header, and from Nielsen by clicking the opt out link found within Nielsen’s Privacy Statement.

Our Internal Analytics Tool

In order to better understand how our services are used, we monitor certain user activities that take place within our products, including page views and clicks on any links used when managing a site via our dashboards.

We call each one of these actions an “event.” Analytics events are attached to your WordPress.com account and are handled via a first party system that Automattic owns and maintains. In general, we record the following data for each event: IP address, WordPress.com user ID and username, WordPress.com-connected site ID (for sites not hosted on WordPress.com), user agent, referring URL, timestamp of event, browser language, and country code.

We use this information to improve our products, make our marketing to you more relevant, personalize your experience, and for the other purposes described in our Privacy Policy.

You may opt out of our analytics program through your user settings. By doing so, you won’t share information with our analytics tool about events or actions that happen after the opt-out, while logged in to your WordPress.com account. Note that opting out does not disable the functionality of the actions we track – for example, if you publish a post, we will still have record of that (don’t worry!), but for an event or action after you opt out, we will not have other data associated with that action or event in the analytics tool.

For our Simplenote Users: We use our first party analytics tool in Simplenote to help us better understand how Simplenote is used and improve the app for our users. You may opt-out through your privacy settings in the app. By doing so, you won’t share information with our analytics tool about events or actions that happen after the opt-out. One more thing–For Simplenote users who log onto Simplenote using their WordPress.com login, if you’d like to opt-out of our analytics tool on Simplenote, you’ll also need to opt out on the Simplenote app–not on your WP.COM Account Privacy Settings.

Consent for Advertising Cookies on Our Sites

You may see a “cookie banner” on our websites and dashboards. If you are visiting one of our sites from the EU, then we do not set, or allow our ad partners to set, cookies that are used to show you targeted ads before you click to accept. When you consent in this manner, we and our advertising partners may set advertising cookies on the site you are visiting and on our other websites, dashboards, and services, which we use to show you advertisements about our various Automattic products. We’ll display the banner to you periodically, just in case you change your mind.

Consent and Choices for Advertisements on Our Users’ Sites Through Our Ads Program

You may see a “cookie banner” on our users’ websites, particularly if you are in the European Union. If so, then our ad program does not set, or allow our ad partners to set, cookies that are used to show you targeted ads before you accept.

When you consent in this manner, we and our advertising partners may set third party advertising cookies in order to show you personalized ads on the website you are visiting and, if you are visiting a site in the WordPress.com network, on all websites within that network of sites. You’ll know that a site is in the WordPress.com network because it will have a WordPress.com subdomain (e.g., example.wordpress.com). For other sites that participate in our ads program, your consent is only for personalized ads on the specific site you are visiting.

For visitors to sites in the WordPress.com network:

You can manage your privacy choices for third party advertising cookies for sites in the WordPress.com network by clicking “Learn More” on the banner, which will bring up our consent management platform (CMP). You can also adjust your settings for sites in the WordPress.com network at any time by clicking on the “Privacy” link displayed beneath every ad.

In March 2021 we began rolling out a new CMP to some of our users as part of our transition to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Europe’s Transparency and Consent Framework, which we will participate in as both a CMP provider and as a vendor (framework identification number 496). Our new CMP complies with the the framework’s Specifications and Policies, and honors the choices you make using the IAB’s tools. Within the CMP we list as partners all the vendors that participate in the IAB’s Framework. We don’t work with all of these vendors, but our ad partners listed above might, so we want you to give you the choice to deactivate them. (This is also why the list in our CMP is longer than you’d expect!).

Other Choices:

We also set a cookie to help us understand how visitors engage with websites that participate in our ad program. Visitors may opt out of our use of this information by visiting this link (the opt-out will be processed immediately with no confirmation step). When you opt out, we replace the unique value for that cookie with an opt-out value. The opt-out works across all websites in our ads program. If you have opted out by accident  or wish to opt back in, you may do so by visiting this link. Please note that this option is browser-specific, so if you use a different device or browser or clear your cookies, then you will need to repeat the process.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about our use of cookies, you can find the most relevant contact details in our Privacy Policy.