Privacy Policy

1. Scope of this Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to poki.love and any subdomain operated by the same editorial team (collectively, “POKI.love”, “we”, “us”, or “our”). It describes the information we collect when you visit, read, subscribe to, or otherwise interact with the site, and how we use, share, and safeguard that information.

POKI.love is an editorial digest. We aggregate and summarize gaming news from third-party publishers (notably IGN, Eurogamer, and Polygon) for a global audience. We do not run a user account system on this site. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13.

2. Information We Collect

We collect only what is necessary to deliver the editorial experience, keep the lights on, and meet our legal obligations. Specifically:

• Newsletter email — if you voluntarily subscribe. Used solely to send the weekly digest; you can unsubscribe via the link in every email.
• Contact-form data — name, email, and message content when you write to support@poki.love through our contact form. Used solely to reply.
• Server logs — anonymized IP, user-agent, referring URL, and timestamp, retained up to 30 days for abuse prevention and aggregate analytics.
• Cookies & similar — see section 1.

3. Cookies, Web Beacons & Local Storage

Cookies are small text files placed on your device. We use them for the following purposes:

• Strictly necessary — session, preference, and security cookies. The site cannot function properly without them.
• Analytics — first-party aggregated traffic measurement (page views, country, referrer). No personally identifiable profiling.
• Advertising — set by Google and other authorized vendors for ad selection, frequency capping, and reporting. See section 1 for details.

You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings. Blocking strictly-necessary cookies will break core functionality (such as remembering your filter preference). For advertising opt-out, see section 1.

4. Google AdSense & ADX Advertising

Specifically, third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to our website or other websites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads based on their visit to our site and/or other sites on the Internet. These include the legacy DoubleClick DART cookie (now operated under the Google Marketing Platform), along with the current generation of IDE, __gads, DSID, and 1P_JAR identifiers.

Users may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings, or by visiting the Digital Advertising Alliance consumer choice page. Users in the European Economic Area may opt out via Your Online Choices (EU).

You may also opt out of certain third-party vendors' use of cookies for personalized advertising by visiting www.aboutads.info/appchoices.

Authorized Buyers / ADX. As a publisher running Google Authorized Buyers real-time bidding, we surface non-personally identifiable contextual signals (approximate country, browser family, device class) to bidding systems. We do not transmit names, precise location, or persistent identifiers. Bidders are required by their contracts with Google to comply with applicable privacy regulations.

Frequency capping. Advertising vendors use cookies to prevent you from seeing the same ad repeatedly, and to measure the effectiveness of ad campaigns.

5. How We Use Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

• To operate, maintain, and improve the site and its editorial content.
• To send the newsletter to subscribers who have opted in.
• To respond to inquiries submitted through the contact form.
• To detect and prevent abuse (e.g., scraping, credential stuffing) and to enforce our Terms of Service.
• To meet legal, accounting, and regulatory obligations.

We do not sell personal data, and we do not use data to make automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects on you.

6. How We Share Information

We share information only as follows:

• Advertising vendors (Google AdSense, Authorized Buyers, ADX) — to select and serve ads, and to provide aggregated reporting to us.
• Infrastructure providers — hosting, edge CDN, and email delivery vendors, bound by data-processing agreements.
• Legal — when required by valid legal process, or to protect our rights and the safety of our users.
• Business transfers — in the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, with continued protection under this Policy.

We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer your personal data to third parties for monetary consideration.

7. Your Rights (GDPR / CCPA)

Depending on where you live, you may have some or all of the following rights:

• Access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Rectification — correct inaccurate personal data.
• Erasure — request deletion of your data, subject to legal retention obligations.
• Restrict processing — ask us to limit how we process your data.
• Data portability — receive your data in a structured, commonly used format.
• Object — object to processing based on legitimate interest, including direct marketing and certain profiling.
• Withdraw consent — withdraw any consent you have given, at any time, without affecting prior lawful processing.
• Lodge a complaint — lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

To exercise any of these rights, email support@poki.love with the subject line “Privacy Request”. We respond within 30 days. California residents have additional rights under the CCPA/CPRA, including the right to know, delete, correct, and limit the use of sensitive personal data; contact us for details.

8. Data Retention

We retain personal data only as long as necessary for the purposes described in this Policy, and as required by law:

• Newsletter data — until you unsubscribe.
• Contact-form submissions — up to 24 months, unless you request earlier deletion.
• Server logs — up to 30 days, then aggregated.
• Advertising data — per the retention settings of the relevant vendor (typically 13 months for Google).

9. Children's Privacy (COPPA)

POKI.love is intended for a general adult audience and is not directed to children under the age of 13 (or 16 in the EEA / UK under the GDPR age of digital consent). We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact support@poki.love and we will delete the data promptly.

10. Security

We employ reasonable technical and organizational safeguards designed to protect personal data against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These include TLS encryption in transit, access controls, and periodic review of vendor security posture. No method of transmission over the Internet, however, is 100% secure.

11. Changes to this Policy

We may update this page to reflect changes to our practices or for legal, operational, or regulatory reasons. When we do, we will change the “Last updated” date above. Material changes will be highlighted within the page for at least 14 days. Continued use of the site after a change indicates acceptance of the updated Policy.

12. Contact

Questions, requests, or complaints about this Policy or our handling of your personal data should be sent to: