Privacy

The short version

• You can read Golo without telling us anything.
• We set no cookies on you, and we run no ad networks or outside trackers.
• We count visits with our own tool, which does not store your IP address and cannot follow you from one day to the next.
• You only give us something when you choose to: an email for the mail, a name for a comment, a nomination for Spotlight.
• We have never sold anyone's details and will not.

When you sign up for the mail

We keep your email address, which country hub you signed up from, which page you signed up on, the date, and the network address your browser connected from. We use it to send you the newsletter and nothing else. Every mail has an unsubscribe link, and you can also ask us at hello@golo.africa and we will take you off.

The list sits on our own server today. If we move it to an email service later, we will name that service here first.

When you comment

The name you comment under and what you write are public — pick a name you are comfortable with. If you leave an email address it is never shown to anyone but us, and we only use it to recognise you as the same person next time.

Behind the scenes we store scrambled versions of that email address, of your network address, and of a random ID your browser keeps. Scrambled means we cannot read them back — they exist so a first-time commenter can be told apart from someone spamming the site. Your first comment waits for an editor before it appears, and comments with links always wait. If enough readers report a live comment, it goes back into the queue for a person to look at.

Want a comment gone? Write to hello@golo.africa and say which one. We take it down.

When you react to a story

Reactions are a running count per story and nothing more. Which one you pressed is remembered by your own browser so you can change your mind, and is never sent to us in a form that points back to you.

When you put someone forward for Spotlight

We keep the name you send, your reason, your email if you give one, and the network address your browser connected from, so an editor can follow it up. Nothing is published from it without our own reporting first.

How we count readers

We measure Golo ourselves rather than handing readers to an outside analytics company. When you open a page we record the page, the site that sent you (if any), your country, and whether you are on a phone or a computer. On a story we also record how far down you got and roughly how long you spent reading it, so we can tell which stories actually hold people.

Visitors are counted with a code made from your network address and browser that changes every day, so we can say "so many people read this today" without keeping your address or recognising you tomorrow. Your country comes from the network our site sits behind. Known bots are ignored, and so are our own staff.

What your browser remembers

We do not set any cookies on readers. A few things are kept in your own browser's storage, on your device, where we cannot read them unless you send them to us: whether you chose light or dark, whether sounds are on, the random ID that lets you see your own comment while it waits, which reaction you pressed, and any ad you have closed. Clearing your browser data clears all of it.

Our editors sign in to a private admin, which does set a cookie. That is for staff, on staff devices.

Ads

Ads on Golo are images we host ourselves and show to everybody — they are not chosen based on you, and there are no tracking pixels in them. Clicking one takes you to the advertiser's own website, where their privacy policy applies, not ours.

Who else can see any of this

The company that hosts our server, and the network that sits in front of it to keep the site fast and fend off attacks. Our stories and settings are kept in a private code repository. Comments, reactions and the mailing list stay on our own server. We do not share them with anyone else, and we will not sell them. The only other time we would hand anything over is if the law actually required it.

How long we keep things

Your email stays on the list until you leave it. Comments stay while the story is up, or until you ask us to remove yours. Visit records are kept as a rolling window and the oldest are deleted automatically. Nominations are kept while we are still considering them.

Your rights

Under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 you can ask us what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, ask us to delete it, object to how we are using it, or withdraw your consent at any time. Write to hello@golo.africa and we will answer within 30 days. There is no charge. If you are not satisfied, you can complain to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission.

As each new country hub opens, the law of that country applies there too: Ghana's Data Protection Act, Kenya's Data Protection Act, South Africa's POPIA.

Children

Golo is written for adults. We do not aim any of this at children under 13 and we do not knowingly keep their details. If you believe a child has sent us something, tell us and we will delete it.

Changes

When we change how any of this works, we change this page and move the date at the top. If it is a change that actually affects you, we will say so in the newsletter rather than quietly editing the page.

Contact

Golo is published by Ceqo Media. For anything on this page, write to hello@golo.africa.