Cookie Policy
This policy explains the cookies and similar technologies used on thursdaytimes.com, in English and Urdu, on Westline and in the Thursday Times app. The Thursday Times is published by Thursday Media International (“we”, “us” or “our”). It should be read with our Privacy Notice.
Questions about cookies go to pr@thursdaytimes.com.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files a website stores in your browser so it can remember something between pages or visits. Websites can also keep information in your browser’s own storage, which works in a similar way. In this policy, “cookies” covers both.
We use very few. The site works the same whether or not you accept the ones that are optional.
Your choices
Readers in the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland are asked before we set any analytics cookie, and nothing optional is stored until they say yes. Readers elsewhere are counted with Google Analytics by default. Wherever you are, “Privacy choices” at the foot of every page lets you say yes or no, and change your answer at any time.
You can also block or delete cookies in your browser’s settings, and turn off Google Analytics on every site with Google’s opt-out browser add-on. Blocking the cookies the site needs may stop some features, such as newsletter sign-up, from working.
The cookies we set
Needed for the site to work
These are always on, because the features you use depend on them.
- tt_consent remembers your answer to the cookie question, for six months.
- tt_nl and tt_nl_on remember that you have signed up to a newsletter, and which ones, so we do not ask again. They last a year.
- tt_pay_pass remembers that you have supported the paper, so we stop asking you to. It lasts a year.
- comment_author_ cookies remember your name and email address for your next comment, but only if you tick the box to save them. They last a year.
- Cloudflare, which protects the site, may set short-lived security cookies such as __cf_bm to tell readers from automated traffic.
Counting readers (optional)
- _ga and _ga_44GBCW9DZ2 are set by Google Analytics to count visits and see which stories are read. They last up to two years. Google Analytics does not store your IP address, and we do not count signed-in staff. See how Google uses cookies.
Settings kept in your browser
These stay on your device and are not sent to us:
- whether you prefer dark or light mode;
- your settings for listening to stories;
- the checklist ticks on our Write for Us page; and
- copies of stories the app keeps so you can read them offline.
Advertising
Our own advertisements are booked directly with advertisers and shown from our own server. They set no cookies and track no one; we count only how many times each one is clicked.
Google may also serve ads in some spaces. We instruct Google, through its consent mode, not to store or read advertising cookies and not to personalise ads for anyone, so any Google ad you see is not based on your browsing.
Content from other services
Some stories include videos, posts and other material from YouTube, X, Instagram, Facebook and similar services. When that material loads, those services may set their own cookies, which their own policies govern. Our YouTube players use YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode and load only when you press play.
Our buttons for sharing and following on social media are plain links. They set no cookies until you click them and leave our site.
Changes to this policy
We update this policy when the cookies we use change. The date at the top shows when it last changed.
