Effective Date: July 24, 2025
This Privacy Policy explains how the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), Mother Jones, Reveal, and the Center for Investigative Reporting Studios (together, “we,” “us,” and “our”) as well as any other CIR entities collect, process, and disclose your personal information as part of operating the website, as well as any other app, website, news programming or service that links to this Privacy Policy (“Services”).
Please carefully review this Privacy Policy and all privacy statements, policies, and notices of privacy practices applicable to you and your personal information. If you do not agree to our stated uses and disclosures, do not use our Services.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- CATEGORIES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT
- INFORMATION YOU DISCLOSE PUBLICLY
- HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
- HOW WE DISCLOSE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
- LINKS TO THIRD PARTY CONTENT
- YOUR CHOICES
- HOW WE SECURE INFORMATION
- CHILDREN’S PRIVACY
- ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR INTERNATIONAL USERS
- CHANGES TO THE PRIVACY POLICY
- CONTACT INFORMATION
1. CATEGORIES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT
Depending on how you engage with the Services, we may collect the following categories of personal information:
Information you provide directly to us. For certain activities, such as when you subscribe to our newsletter or magazine, respond to surveys, submit a donation, or engage with interactive features on the Services, we may ask you to provide some of the following types of information, including:
- Contact information, such as your name, email address, telephone number, and mailing address;
- Demographic information, such as your age, city, state, zip code, and similar survey or demographic data;
- Payment information, such as details about your method of payment and billing address when you make a donation or when you otherwise provide your payment information to us; and
- Communications when you choose to contact us or engage with our Services, such as responses to surveys or communications you choose to send to us.
Cookies, Etc.. When you use the Services, we, our third-party advertising partners, and our other partners use cookies (small text files stored in device browsers), pixels or web beacon (pieces of code embedded in the Services that collects personal information about use of or engagement with the Services, such as the fact that a user has visited a particular page or click on a particular advertisement) and other similar technologies (“Technologies”) to collect information from your browser or device. By using the Services, you consent to our use of cookies. You may be able to adjust your settings for Technologies in your browser. Certain features of the Site may not work if you delete or disable Technologies.
Sensitive Data. We may collect and process your sensitive data, as that term is defined under applicable laws, when you choose to provide it to us. For example, you can choose to voluntarily provide us with your race or religion in response to a survey.
2. INFORMATION YOU DISCLOSE PUBLICLY
Comments you post on our site. The Services may allow you to submit and post comments on our Site (collectively “Comments”). User Comments that you submit, including any personal information you submit, becomes publicly available and can be seen, collected, and used by others.
3. HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
We use the personal information we collect from you and other sources for the following purposes:
- Provide, improve and develop our content and Services;
- Send direct mail, newsletters, news updates, personalized content, opportunities to support us, and other information you might be interested in, including sponsored messages with offers from other organizations;
- Analyze the use of, and how to improve, our Services;
- Analyze your interests, including to recommend content, opportunities, or other initiatives in which you may be interested;
- Detect security incidents, prevent potentially prohibited or illegal activities and act otherwise in accordance with our Terms of Use; and
- For any other purposes disclosed to you at the time we collect your information.
4. HOW WE DISCLOSE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
We may disclose or sell the personal information we collect with the following categories of third parties:
- Vendors And Service Providers. We share your information with third-party vendors and service providers that help us provide the Services, including mail and email deployment, processing and fulfillment of credit card transactions, administering promotions and surveys, website and other analytics, donation and issue analytics, and identification of individuals interested in news and issues we discuss in the Services.
- Partner Organizations. We may share your information with partner organizations. For example, we may share your information with local public radio stations when you respond to our surveys in order to assist with our news gathering.
- Marketing and Advertising Partners. We may disclose your personal information to marketing and advertising partners. For example, we may share your information with these partners to provide you with personalized advertisements and communications. These third-party advertising partners may set Technologies on our Services to collect personal information regarding your use (e.g., IP address, cookie identifiers, page(s) visited, location, time of day). These advertising partners may use this personal information (in combination with information collected from other services) to tailor and deliver personalized ads to you when you visit digital properties within their networks. This practice is commonly referred to as “interest-based advertising,” “personalized advertising,” or “targeted advertising.” Some of the advertising Technologies we may use include: Meta Pixel. For more information about Meta’s use of your personal information, please visit Meta’s Privacy Policy.
- Business Transfers. We may share your information in connection with a substantial corporate transaction, such as an acquisition, a merger, consolidation, asset sale, or in the unlikely event of bankruptcy.
- Legal purposes. We may disclose your information to comply with applicable laws, including to respond to law enforcement; to protect and defend ourselves (including enforcing our Terms of Use) or others; and to stop any activity that we consider illegal, unethical, or legally actionable.
- With your consent. We may share information for other purposes to which you consent.
5. LINKS TO THIRD PARTY CONTENT
Some of our Services may contain links to content maintained by third parties that we do not control. We may allow third parties to place and read their own cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies to collect information automatically through our Services. If you access third-party services, such as Facebook, Google, or Twitter, through the Services—e.g., to share a story—these third-party services may be able to collect information about you, including information about your activity on the Services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these third parties, and we recommend that you visit the privacy policies of each website that you visit.
6. YOUR CHOICES
Data Rights. Depending on where you reside, you may have the following data rights:
- Access, Correction, & Deletion: You may have the right to access, delete, or correct your personal information by contacting us at the email address below or by mailing us at the contact information below.
- Opt-out of Targeted Advertising: You may have the right to opt-out of targeted advertising, as that term is defined under applicable laws. You may opt-out of targeted advertising by contacting us at the email address below or by mailing us at the contact information below.
- Opt-out of Sale: We may disclose your personal information in some narrow instances to third parties in ways that could constitute a “sale” under certain laws. For example, we may exchange personal data with carefully screened marketing partners in order to provide you with more relevant information or reach additional audiences. You may opt-out of the sale of your personal information by contacting us at the email address below or by mailing us at the contact information below.
Emails. We may periodically contact you with offers and information about our Services or our affiliates, including in connection with your accounts, online surveys, legal notices, news stories, and other important information. You may opt-out of receiving commercial email messages from us by following the instructions contained in those email messages, or by emailing privacy@motherjones.com and including “Unsubscribe” in the subject line.
Text Messages. We may contact you for text campaigns from time to time. If you receive an unwanted text message from us, you may opt out of receiving future text messages from us by following the instructions in the text message you have received from us or by otherwise contacting us as set forth in “Contact Information” section below.
Cookies and Similar Technologies. You may be able to refuse or disable cookies and other Technologies by adjusting your web browser settings. Because each web browser is different, please consult the instructions provided by your web browser (typically in the “help” section). If you choose to refuse, disable, or delete these technologies, some of our Services’ functionality may no longer be available to you. The online advertising industry also provides mechanisms that may allow you to opt out of receiving targeted ads from organizations that participate in self-regulatory programs. To learn more, visit the Network Advertising Initiative and the Digital Advertising Alliance. Please note you must separately opt out in each browser and on each device.
Do-Not-Track. Our Services do not recognize or respond to “Do Not Track” signals.
7. HOW WE SECURE INFORMATION
We use reasonable measures to help protect information that we possess. You should understand that no data storage system or transmission of data over the Internet or any other public network can be guaranteed to be 100 percent secure, and we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you provide to us.
8. CHILDREN’S PRIVACY
The Services are not directed to children under 13 (or other age as required by local law), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you learn that a child has provided us with personal information, you may contact us as set forth below. If we learn that we have collected any personal information in violation of applicable law, we will promptly take steps to delete such information and terminate the child’s account.
9. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR USERS IN INTERNATIONAL JURISDICTIONS
Our Services are designed for and targeted to United States audiences and are governed by and operated in accordance with United States law, which may not be equivalent to the laws in your country of residence. We make no representation that our Services are operated in accordance with the laws or regulations of any other nations. By using our Services and providing us with information, you understand and agree that your information may be transferred to and stored on servers located outside your resident jurisdiction and, to the extent you are a resident of a country other than the United States, that you consent to the transfer of such data to the United States for processing by us in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
10. CHANGES TO THE PRIVACY POLICY
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we update the Privacy Policy, we will revise the “Effective Date” date above and post the new Privacy Policy. We recommend that you review the Privacy Policy each time you visit the Services to stay informed of our privacy practices. You understand and agree that you will be deemed to have accepted the updated Privacy Policy if you continue to use the Services after the new Privacy Policy takes effect.
11. CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our practices, or you wish to submit a request to exercise your rights as detailed in this Privacy Policy, please contact us:
Center for Investigative Reporting
P.O. Box 584
San Francisco, CA 94104-0584
privacy@motherjones.com