Our mission is to democratize publishing and commerce, and that means making our Services as accessible to as many people as possible. We show ads on some of our users’ sites as well as some of our own, and the revenue they generate lets us offer free access to some of our services so that money doesn’t become an obstacle to having a voice. Our ads program also allows our users to earn revenue to support and grow their own sites.  Our users may also choose to place ads on their site through our WordAds program, and 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 who help us place ads on sites. Advertising cookies enable us and our partners to serve ads, to personalize those ads based on information like visits to our sites and other sites on the internet, and to understand how users engage with those ads. As part of the operation of our ads program we use cookies to collect certain information, and we provide the following categories of information to our third-party advertising partners: online identifiers and internet or other network or device activity (such as unique identifiers, cookie information, and IP address), and geolocation data (approximate location information from your IP address).

We never share identifiers like your name as part of our advertising program.

CCPA Opt-Out For Sites Within the WordPress.com Network

If you’d prefer not to see ads that are personalized based on information from your visits to sites within the WordPress.com network, you can opt-out by clicking on the link below:

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).

This opt-out is managed through cookies, so if you delete cookies, your browser is set to delete cookies automatically after a certain length of time, or if you visit sites in our ads program with a different browser, you’ll need to make this selection again.

After you opt-out you may still see ads, including personalized ones, on our sites and other sites — they just won’t be personalized based on information from your visits to sites in the WordPress.com network. To learn more about interest-based advertising and to opt out from seeing such ads on other publisher sites, please visit optout.aboutads.info or optout.networkadvertising.org.

CCPA Opt-Out For Other Sites Participating in our Ads Program

We also make our ads program available to sites outside of the WordPress.com network. These participating sites do not have a WordPress.com subdomain (e.g., example.wordpress.com), so the opt-out process is different.

For these sites, if site owners would like to show personalized ads to California visitors, they have the option to enable an opt-out behind a link called “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” that shows up for Californians. Clicking on this link opens a pop-up window with a button that allows you to opt out of personalized ads like the one shown below:

This opt-out is also managed through cookies, so if you opt out, you’ll need to select the opt-out again any time you delete/clear cookies or visit the site in a different browser.

As with the opt-outs within the WordPress.com network, you may still see ads, including personalized ones, after you opt-out, but those ads won’t be personalized based on information from your visits to that site.

Other Options

If you’d prefer not to see personalized advertising, you may also control cookies used for advertising by visiting these websites:

• (EU) European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA) – www.youronlinechoices.com
• (US) Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) – www.networkadvertising.org
• (US) Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) – www.youradchoices.com
• (Japan) Data Driven Advertising Initiative (DDAI) – www.ddai.info

Any choices made via these industry tools will only apply when you’re using the same  web browser you were using when you completed the opt-out process. These advertising choices are not propagated across all of your devices.

We’re working with others in the publishing and advertising industries to offer additional opt-out tools, so please check back periodically for new information.

Privacy Notice for Californians

The California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) requires us to provide California residents with some additional information about the categories of personal information we collect and share, where we get that personal information, and how and why we use it. You can find that information in our California Privacy Notice online at https://automattic.com/privacy/#california-consumer-privacy-act-ccpa.