Privacy Policy
How African Updates handles your information
African Updates (“we”, “us”, or “our”) respects your privacy. This policy explains what information we collect when you visit our website, how we use it, and the choices you have. We aim to keep this in plain language rather than legal jargon.
The Short Version
African Updates is a news website. We don’t require you to create an account, and we don’t ask for your personal details to read our stories. The main information we collect is anonymous usage data through Google Analytics — and only if you accept analytics cookies through the notice shown when you first visit.
Cookies
Cookies are small text files stored on your device by your browser. We use two kinds:
Essential cookies — a small record of your cookie choice itself (so we don’t ask you every time you visit). These are necessary for the site to remember your preference and are always active.
Analytics cookies — set by Google Analytics only after you click “Accept” on our cookie notice. If you decline, these are not placed on your device.
When you first visit, a notice appears at the bottom of the screen letting you accept or decline analytics cookies. We do not set analytics cookies before you consent.
Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics 4, a web analytics service provided by Google, to understand how readers use our site — for example, which stories are read most, how visitors arrive, and what devices they use. This helps us improve our content and the website experience.
When analytics is active (after your consent), Google Analytics may collect information such as your approximate location (derived from your IP address), device and browser type, the pages you visit, how long you stay, and how you reached our site.
To protect your privacy, we have enabled IP anonymization, which means your IP address is truncated before being stored, and we use Google’s Consent Mode, which keeps analytics storage disabled until you agree.
Google processes this data on our behalf and as described in its own privacy terms. Google may transfer and store this information on servers outside your country, including in the United States. You can read how Google uses data from sites that use its services here: How Google uses information from sites that use our services.
Your Choices
You are in control of analytics tracking:
Decline at the notice — clicking “Decline” on our cookie notice prevents analytics cookies from being set.
Change your mind — you can clear the cookies and site data for our website in your browser settings, which will make the cookie notice appear again on your next visit so you can choose differently.
Browser opt-out — you can install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on to prevent Google Analytics from collecting your data across all websites.
Browser controls — most browsers let you block or delete cookies through their settings.
Information You Send Us
If you email us or send a news tip, we receive the information you choose to share (such as your name, email address, and message). We use it only to respond to you and handle your enquiry. We do not sell this information or use it for marketing.
External Links and Social Media
Our site links to external services such as our WhatsApp Channel and X (Twitter) account. When you follow these links or interact with those platforms, their own privacy policies apply, not ours. We encourage you to review the privacy practices of any third-party service you use.
Children’s Privacy
Our website is a general news service and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
Your Rights
Depending on where you live, you may have rights over your personal data — such as the right to access, correct, or delete it, or to withdraw consent. Because we collect very little personal data and only anonymized analytics with your consent, these situations are limited, but if you have a request or question about your data, please contact us and we will do our best to help.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy from time to time — for example, if we add new tools or if privacy laws change. When we do, we will update the “last updated” date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review it occasionally.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about this privacy policy or how we handle your information, please email us at info@africanupdates.com or visit our Contact page.