Cookie Policy
The cookies and similar technologies on africasveryown.com, and the choices you have.
This policy explains the cookies and similar technologies used on africasveryown.com, the website of Africa’s Very Own Magazine (“AVO”, “we”, “us”), and the choices you have. AVO is a digital publication owned and operated by Digital Thread Proprietary Limited. The policy describes what the website actually does today. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information more generally.
The short version
- A few small items are needed for the website to work and stay secure. They are always on.
- Cloudflare Web Analytics counts visits without cookies and without storing anything on your device. It is always on.
- AVO shows ads from Google AdSense, which help pay for the magazine. Unless you allow personalised ads, they are not personalised and Google sets no ad cookies.
- Three things are optional and stay off until you allow them: analytics (Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity), personalised ads, and embedded media (video and audio players from YouTube, Spotify, SoundCloud and Audiomack).
- AVO does not sell your information. There are never ads on sponsored stories or our legal pages.
- You can change your choice at any time with Cookie settings, at the bottom of every page.
What cookies and similar technologies are
Cookies are small text files a website asks your browser to keep. Browsers also offer similar storage, such as local storage and session storage, that works in much the same way. In this policy “cookies” covers all of these. Some are set by the website you are visiting (first-party); others are set by another company whose service is used on the page (third-party).
Necessary: always on
These are needed for the website to work, to keep it secure, or to do something you have asked for. They do not track you and cannot be switched off in Cookie settings, though you can still clear them in your browser.
Your cookie choice
Name: avo-consent (local storage). Provider: AVO. Purpose: remembers whether you allowed analytics and embedded media, when you chose, and which version of this policy you saw, so we don’t ask again on every page. It holds only those details, nothing that identifies you, and it is never sent to AVO. Duration: until you change your choice or clear your browser’s storage. We ask again if this policy changes in a way that affects your choice.
Light or dark display
Name: avo-theme (local storage). Provider: AVO. Purpose: remembers whether you chose the light or dark look. It is stored only when you press the light/dark switch. Duration: until you clear your browser’s storage.
Security check on forms
Provider: Cloudflare (Turnstile). Purpose: when you use the newsletter sign-up, the Contact form, the Write for AVO form or a sign-in form, a brief check confirms a person is sending it, not an automated script. It runs only on those forms and usually happens without you noticing. Cloudflare processes technical information about your browser and connection to do this.
Hosting and security
Provider: Cloudflare, which hosts and protects the website. Purpose: Cloudflare may set a short-lived security cookie (for example __cf_bm) when it needs to tell people apart from automated traffic. Duration: typically 30 minutes.
Staff sign-in
Name: avo_session. Provider: AVO. Purpose: keeps AVO staff signed in to the studio, the private area where the magazine is edited. Readers never receive it. Duration: 30 days, or until the person signs out.
Visit counts without cookies: always on
Provider: Cloudflare (Cloudflare Web Analytics). Purpose: tells us how many people visit, which pages they open, which sites send them, and how quickly pages load, so we can keep the magazine fast and see what is read.
How it works: a small script from static.cloudflareinsights.com sends Cloudflare the address of the page you opened, the page that linked to it, your browser type and page loading times. We checked what it does on 8 October 2026: it sets no cookies, stores nothing in your browser, and does not give you an identifier that follows you between pages or websites. Because it does not store or read anything on your device and does not track individuals, it is not part of the cookie choice. It does not run on the newsletter confirmation and unsubscribe pages or on staff previews.
Optional: analytics
With your permission, we use two analytics services to understand how the magazine is read: which stories people open, how they find us, how they move around the site and where pages are hard to use. They stay off until you switch on Analytics in Cookie settings (or choose Accept all). Until then, neither service is loaded at all.
Google Analytics 4
Provider: Google. Purpose: measures visits, the pages you view, how you arrived and basic information about your device and browser, so we can see which stories and sections are read. We send Google the address of each page without anything after a question mark, so search terms and links with personal details in them are never passed on. Google signals and Google Analytics’ own advertising features are switched off.
Cookies set when you allow analytics (as observed on 8 October 2026; Google may change them): _ga and _ga_5SGYW30YS2, first-party, which tell Google Analytics that two visits came from the same browser. Duration: up to two years as set by Google; some browsers, including Chrome, cap this at 400 days.
We use Google Consent Mode. Before you choose, every Google consent signal is set to “denied” and Google’s script is not loaded. If you allow analytics, we tell Google that analytics storage is allowed. Advertising storage, advertising user data and advertising personalisation stay denied unless you also allow personalised ads (below). More information: how Google uses information from sites that use its services and Google’s Privacy Policy. Google also offers a browser add-on to opt out of Google Analytics on every website.
Microsoft Clarity
Provider: Microsoft. Purpose: shows us how pages are used through heatmaps and recordings of clicks, scrolling and movement around a page, so we can find layouts that confuse people. Clarity hides what you type into forms and text fields by default, and we mark AVO’s forms so their contents are always hidden.
Cookies set when you allow analytics (as observed on 8 October 2026, and as listed in Microsoft’s Clarity cookie list): _clck, first-party, which keeps the Clarity identifier for this site (one year); _clsk, first-party, which joins the pages you view into one session (one day); and _cltk in session storage, which lasts until you close the tab. Microsoft may also set third-party cookies on its own domains, such as CLID, MUID, MR, SM and ANONCHK; AVO cannot read or delete these. More information: Microsoft’s Privacy Statement.
If you change your mind
If you switch Analytics off, we tell Google and Microsoft that you have withdrawn consent, stop Google Analytics sending anything more, delete the analytics cookies AVO’s website can reach (_ga, _ga_5SGYW30YS2, _clck and _clsk), and reload the page so neither service keeps running. Information already sent to Google or Microsoft before you changed your mind stays with them for the period set in their services; switching Analytics off does not delete it.
Ads, and the optional choice to personalise them
Provider: Google (Google AdSense). Ads help pay for AVO, so Google places them automatically on most pages. Google chooses the ads; AVO does not see who you are or which ads you are shown. We never show ads on sponsored stories, so they never compete with a partner, or on our legal pages, the Contact page or Write for AVO.
Without your permission, the ads are not personalised: Google Consent Mode tells Google that advertising storage, advertising user data and advertising personalisation are all denied, so Google sets no ad cookies and chooses ads from the page you are reading and your general location. To show these ads, your browser still connects to Google, which receives technical information such as your IP address and browser type and uses it to deliver the ads, prevent fraud and count impressions.
If you switch on Personalised ads in Cookie settings (or choose Accept all), Google may use cookies to choose ads that may interest you, limit how often you see the same ad, and measure how ads perform. Cookies then set, as listed by Google: __gads and __gpi (first-party, 13 months), which help choose and limit ads and prevent fraud; and __eoi (first-party, 6 months), a security cookie. Google may also set cookies on its own domains, such as doubleclick.net. Google’s full list: cookies used by Google advertising products. How Google uses this information: how Google uses cookies in advertising. You can also control the ads Google shows you in My Ad Center.
If you switch Personalised ads off again, we tell Google, delete the ad cookies AVO’s website can reach (__gads, __gpi and __eoi), and reload the page so only non-personalised ads are shown. Cookies Google set on its own domains stay until they expire or you delete them.
For readers in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, Google asks about personalised ads itself, in its own consent message (a certified consent platform, which Google requires there), instead of AVO’s Personalised ads switch. You can change that choice at any time from the link Google’s message provides.
Optional: embedded media
Some stories include a video or audio player from YouTube, Spotify, SoundCloud or Audiomack. When a player loads, your browser connects to that company, which can set its own cookies, see that you visited the page and link it to an account you hold with them. AVO does not control those cookies; each company’s own policies apply: Google (YouTube), Spotify, SoundCloud and Audiomack.
So players do not load until you allow them. Until then you see a placeholder with three choices: load that one player, allow embedded media on every page, or open the content on the provider’s own website. YouTube players use YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com). In our check on 8 October 2026, Spotify set two cookies on its own domain as soon as its player loaded (sp_t, about one year, and sp_landing, one day).
If you switch Embedded media off, players on the page go straight back to placeholders. Cookies a provider has already set stay in your browser until they expire or you delete them.
Links to Instagram, X, TikTok and other networks appear as plain links. Nothing is loaded from those networks unless you follow the link.
What AVO does not use
- No advertising other than Google AdSense, and no marketing cookies.
- No social media pixels or tracking tags.
- No fingerprinting or other attempts to recognise your device without cookies.
If that ever changes, we will update this policy first and ask for your consent before anything optional is used.
Other services the website uses
Fonts: the website’s typefaces are served from AVO’s own website, so showing them involves no request to Google or any other company.
Newsletter: our emails do not contain tracking pixels, and links in them are not tracked.
How to change your choice
Use Cookie settings, here or at the bottom of every page, to see your current choice and change it. Accept all switches on analytics, personalised ads and embedded media; Reject non-essential switches them all off (you still see non-personalised ads); Save preferences keeps exactly what you set. Your browser’s settings also let you delete cookies and stored data, or block them. Blocking necessary items may stop parts of the website, such as the forms, from working.
Changes to this policy
We will update this policy when the website changes. If a change affects the choices you have made, we will ask you again.
Contact
If you have questions about this policy, email privacy@africasveryown.com.
Last updated: 10 October 2026.