Mental Floss

INTRODUCTION

When you visit or access the mentalfloss.com websites and mobile device software applications, which include, without limitation, mentalfloss.com and all its related properties and network sites, including on mentalfloss.com and any other product or service that links to this policy (together, the “Service”), we may use (and authorize third parties to use) web beacons, cookies, pixel tags, scripts, tags, API and other technologies ("Tracking Technologies"). This is explained in this policy (“Cookie Policy”) which is a part of our Privacy Policy.

Tracking Technologies allow us to automatically collect information about you and your online behavior in order to enhance your navigation on our Service, improve our Service performance and customize your experience on it. We also use this information to collect statistics about the usage of our Service, perform analytics, serve ads, and to administer services to our users, customers and partners.

WHAT ARE COOKIES?

Cookies are a commonly used tracking technology, comprised of small text files (composed only of letters and numbers) that a web server places on your computer or mobile device when you visit a webpage. When used, the cookie can help make our Services more user friendly, for example by remembering your language preferences and settings. You can find more information about cookies at www.allaboutcookies.org.

Cookies are widely used in order to make websites work in an efficient way. The use of cookies allows you to navigate between pages efficiently. Cookies remember your preferences, and make the interaction between you and the Services smoother and more efficient.

WHY USE TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES?

There are five main purposes for using Tracking Technologies:

Strictly necessary Tracking Technologies

These Tracking Technologies are essential to enable you to login, navigate around and use the features of our Services, or to provide a service requested by you (such as your username). These Tracking Technologies can be used for security and integrity reasons for example to detect violation of our policies and for support or security features.
Functionality Tracking Technologies

These Tracking Technologies allow our Services to remember choices you make (such as your language) and provide enhanced and personalized features. For example, these Tracking Technologies are used for authentication (to remember when you are loggedin) and support other features of our Services.
Performance Tracking Technologies

These Tracking Technologies collect information about your online activity (for example the duration of your visit on our Services), including behavioral data and content engagement metrics. These Tracking Technologies are used for analytics, research and to perform statistics (based on aggregated information).
Marketing or Advertising Tracking Technologies

These Tracking Technologies are used to deliver tailored offers and advertisements to you, based on your derived interests, as well as to perform email marketing campaigns. They can also be used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement as well as help measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaign. They are usually placed by our advertising partners and provide them insights about the people who see and interact with their ads, visit their websites or use their app.
Social media Tracking Technologies

These Tracking Technologies include social media features, such as the Facebook "Like" or "Share" buttons, or third party login services. These features are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our Services. Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy statement of the company providing these features.

STORING TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES

We store Tracking Technologies when you visit or access our Services. These are called "First Party Tracking Technologies". In addition, Tracking Technologies are stored by other third parties (for example our analytics service providers, business partners and advertisers) – these are called "Third Party Tracking Technologies".

Both types of Tracking Technologies may be stored either for the duration of your visit on our Services or for repeat visits.

HOW TO MANAGE YOUR COOKIE SETTINGS

There are various ways in which you can manage and control your cookie settings. Please remember that, by deleting or blocking cookies, some of the features of the Services may not work properly or as effectively.

Information about cookies is usually found in the "Help" or "Settings" section of the web browser. Below are some links to some commonly used web browsers:
For other browsers, please consult the documentation that your browser manufacturer provides.
Turning off third party cookies 
You can turn off certain third party targeting and advertising cookies by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative webpage.
Other helpful resources
To learn more about advertisers’ use of cookies the following links may be helpful:
EU residents may also use our dedicated Cookie Preferences Control menu which can also be accessed via the “Consent Preferences” link located on our homepage. Most vendors used on our site could be managed using that menu. However, due to technical factors outside of our control, other vendors' cookies could be managed by using any of the options described above.
California consumers may also use our dedicated “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” link located on our homepage.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION– WHAT OTHER TYPES OF TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES ARE USED ON OUR SERVICE?

Tracking Technology	Type	Purpose
Strictly necessary	First and Third party Tracking Technology	Strictly necessary Tracking Technologies These unlisted Tracking Technologies might be in use on internal sections of the Services, in order to customize and simplify the user experience on the site by remembering choices you made and your log in credentials.
Google Analytics	Third party Tracking Technology	Performance Tracking Technologies This cookie is used to collect information about how visitors use our Service. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the Service. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the Service, where visitors have come to the Service from and the pages they visited. You can read more on Google's Privacy Policy.
Microsoft Clarity	Third party Tracking Technology	Performance Tracking Technologies Microsoft Clarity is used in some territories to collect information about how visitors use our Service. We use the information to replay user sessions and explore heatmaps, in order to compile reports and to help us improve the Service. The collected information may be Personal Data used by Microsoft for its advertising purposes. Clarity assigns a unique user ID to each user, and any information associated with that user ID may be Personal Data. Microsoft may also collect statistical data. For more information, please read Microsoft’s Privacy Statement.
Social Media / Embeds	Third party Tracking Technology	Social Media Tracking Technologies Our website includes features such as "like" and "share" buttons on social networks and also third party embedded codes (for example: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram). All these features are provided by vendors and platforms who use their own cookies to allow you to utilize their services, to measure your interaction with them, and to recognize you after being connected to your account on their services. For more information, please visit each such platform's privacy policy as applicable: Facebook's Privacy Policy, Twitter's Privacy Policy, Instagram's Privacy Policy.