Your choices
Use Cookie & feed choices to allow or stop reading-based personalisation and reset reading history. Learning is off on a device until you explicitly enable it there. You can still read, follow publishers and use Latest with learning off.
Google Analytics is optional and stays blocked until you choose Allow analytics. You can decline or later switch it off in Cookie & feed choices. This choice is separate from feed learning, newsletter subscription and notifications. We do not load third-party advertising trackers. The Place Keys promotion is a link, not a tracking-ad script. Other websites, including the wider Place Keys app, have their own storage notices.
Pop Quest quiz links use first-party aggregate click counts without cookies or local-storage identifiers. Counts are not linked to an account, and are skipped when Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track is enabled. See our privacy policy for details.
What the website stores
| Storage | Purpose and duration |
|---|---|
| Account cookie: __Host-ss_account | Secure sign-in to the account service you request. Up to 14 days, or cleared when signing out of Showbiz. |
| Sign-in flow cookie: __Host-ss_flow | Protect the sign-in handover. Up to ten minutes, cleared when the callback is processed. |
| Alert cookie: __Host-ss_push | Identify this browser’s alert settings and protect changes when you use notification controls. Up to 90 days. |
| showbiz-spy.preferences.v1 in local storage | Guest follows, learning preference and recent open/hide events. Remains until reset or browser data is cleared; recent events are limited to 30 days when processed. |
| showbiz-spy.learning-choice.v1 in local storage | Remember your device’s explicit learning choice and when it changed. Remains until changed or browser data is cleared. |
| Service worker, installation and push subscription data | Support adding the site and delivering requested alerts. Managed by the browser; remove the app or clear site data to remove browser-held registration data. Turn alerts off in Showbiz to remove the corresponding subscription from our service. |
| showbiz-spy.analytics-choice.v1 in local storage | Remember your explicit analytics choice on this browser for up to 180 days, or until you change it or clear site data. |
| Google Analytics: _ga and _ga_<measurement ID> | Optional visitor and session measurement cookies, set only after analytics consent. Configured for up to 180 days without extending expiry on each visit; browsers may remove them sooner. Turning analytics off clears these cookies set on this host. |
Sign-in and security storage supports the service you request. Storing your explicit follows and hides remembers those choices. Recording story opens for learning is optional and requires your choice; it is not used for advertising. Your browser may also cache page assets to load them more quickly.
Changing or clearing storage
Turning learning off stops new opens being saved and removes open events from the preferences being used. Reset reading history also clears hides, while keeping follows. Clear all feed preferences removes follows and history and turns learning off. Signed-in changes are saved to the shared Showbiz account when the connection succeeds.
You can block or delete site data in your browser. This may sign you out, clear guest preferences or interrupt alerts. Browser clearing does not automatically erase records held in your account or unsubscribe an email address. See the privacy policy for server-held data and requests.
Turning analytics off stops the Google tag and clears the analytics cookies set by this integration. The page reloads to remove the loaded tag. Your analytics choice applies to this browser, independently of your account’s feed preferences.
Publisher sites and future changes
Opening a story takes you to its publisher, directly on the website or through the app’s article browser where available. Publisher cookies and paywalls are governed by that publisher. We do not disable their controls.
If we introduce other analytics or advertising technologies, we will update this page and provide the required choices before using them. Existing newsletter consent or notification permission does not permit unrelated tracking.